


The Jasper & Danielle Trilogy

by CarrottopFF



Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alice and Jasper are not a couple, Drama, Emmett is a big annoying teddy bear, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, I'm trying to make her less annoying in this, Jasper isn't that young though, No Bella Bashing, Romance, Young Love, and i love him for it, even though Bella actually annoyed me a little, girl moves to Forks and falls in love with a vampire, so original right?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 97,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27380101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarrottopFF/pseuds/CarrottopFF
Summary: When Danielle Clark moved to Forks, Washington, she hadn't really known what to expect. But she definitely hadn't planned on falling in love with Jasper Hale, and she certainly hadn't known he would turn her life completely upside down.
Relationships: Jasper Hale/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 91





	1. PART ONE - Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! This story was originally posted in three separate parts on fanfiction.net over ten years ago, but since my writing back then was awful, I decided a few years ago to rewrite the entire thing. The new version has been a work in progress for a few years now. I've always been active on fanfiction.net, but I felt like expanding my horizons a little and posting it here, too! So hi! Nice to meet you all!
> 
> I obviously do not own anything related to Twilight, only the OC's. There will be some language and adult situations, as well as violence down the road, but nothing that will bump the rating above a T. Hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> Faceclaims for Original Characters:  
> Danielle Clark - Jane Levy  
> Lynne Clark - Julianne Moore  
> Tom Fitzpatrick - Nicholas Hoult

**Part One  
** When Nothing Crumbles

* * *

_Prologue_

_January_

It was official. Danielle Clark hated moving.

The entire process – having to sort through all of her belongings, pack everything she owned, clean every inch of the home she was leaving – was nothing but one giant headache. But you know what was worse than moving? Having to move across the _country,_ which was exactly what she and her mother, Lynne, were currently in the process of doing.

Danielle sighed and shifted around in the passenger seat of her mother's car. They were in the last stretch of their drive from Houston, Texas to Forks, Washington, which was somewhat of a relief. She was sick of being on the road, and by now her butt was so numb from sitting for so long that she wasn't confident she even _had_ a butt anymore. Sighing again, she glanced at her mother, who seemed oblivious to Danielle's moodiness as she concentrated on the road. Frowning grumpily, Danielle turned her eyes back to the window, watching as the green, wet, and gloomy landscape jumped past the window.

To be honest, she wasn't really sure what her mother had been thinking when she had accepted the job offer that had resulted in them moving to this place.

Their life in Houston hadn't been perfect, but it certainly hadn't been _horrible_ , either. Her parents were divorced and she hadn't seen her father since she had been a little girl, so it had just been the two of them. They'd lived in a small house in a suburb outside of Houston, and though it wasn't the _nicest_ place anyone had ever seen, it had been _home_. But for her mother, being a single parent wasn't easy. She had worked herself to the bone at a number of different jobs over the years - most of which she had absolutely hated - all so she could try to provide Danielle with a good life. Money had been tight more often than not, and though Lynne never discussed it with Danielle, she knew there had been a time or two where her mother had had to dig them out of serious financial troubles.

She could recall hearing her mother express the desire to go somewhere different and start anew at least a hundred times in her life. Over the years, Lynne had grown weary of being in Houston, where she could never seem to find a job she truly loved and where she could never seem to find true, stable footing in life. It didn't help that her love-life in Houston had been total crap, too. She had dated a handful of guys over the years, none of which had ever really gotten too serious simply because all of the guys her mother ended up with always turned out to be complete jerks. After all she had been through, Danielle didn't blame her mother for wanting to start somewhere fresh, to go somewhere where nobody knew them and try to begin a fresh chapter of their lives.

But though she understood her mother's desires on some level, Danielle had never thought she would actually go _through_ with the urge to move.

Boy, how _wrong_ she had been. Because here they were, moving to some tiny town hundreds upon hundreds of miles away from home right smack in the middle of her senior year of high school. A town, mind you, that Danielle had never even _heard_ of until Lynne had told her it would be their new place of residence.

She still couldn't say she was completely sure _how_ her mother had heard about the bookstore in Forks that she had agreed to take ownership of, the very same bookstore that had been the catalyst for this move – she thought Lynne had heard through a friend that a cousin's mother-in-law was looking to retire and sell the shop, or some equaly confusing line of relation like that. Her mother, seeing the opportunity to move somewhere that was new and much cheaper, and, for the first time her life, be her _own_ boss, had reached out to the woman and, after a few days of going back and forth, they finally came to an agreement.

When Lynne had broken the news, Danielle had not been happy. The thought of moving across country and having to finish her high school career in an entirely knew place sounded positively awful. She had tried to talk her out of it, had begged for her to wait to move until she had finished high school so that she could graduate with her friends, but it had been in vain. Lynne had already accepted the job _and_ secured a new house for them to live in, as well as sold off their previous house in Texas. There would be no putting off the move – it was happening whether Danielle wanted it to or not.

So they had left the warmth and sunshine of Houston for the cold, rainy town of Forks. And with each mile that brought them closer to their new home, the dread in Danielle's stomach grew stronger and stronger.

She'd have to start all over. At a time where she was supposed to be looking forward to embarking on the next stage of her life with her friends by her side, she was moving to a strange new place where she wouldn't know anyone or any _thing_. She'd be going to a new school, where she'd have to make new friends and embrace a new life. The problem was that she didn't _want_ a new life. She'd liked her old one just fine, thank you very much.

"This could be a really wonderful experience for us, sweetheart," her mother suddenly spoke up in a reassuring tone. Perhaps she hadn't been as oblivious to Danielle's mood as she had thought. "In a town like this you're bound to make friends pretty quick," Lynne added.

"Or I'll get stared at like I'm some freak who ran away from the circus," Danielle countered, her voice dripping with cynicism.

Lynne shook her head and sighed. "You could try to be a little more enthusiastic."

Danielle felt her annoyance spike at those words, but tried very hard not to show it. "I had to leave practically everything I've ever known and loved back home, and in my senior year of high school no less," she reminded her with forced calmness. "This isn't as easy for me as it is for you, Mom."

"It wasn't easy for me either," Lynne rebutted. "I've lived in Texas almost all my life. You aren't the only one who had to make sacrifices, Dani," Lynne reminded her. "I'm the odd person out here, too."

Danielle stared at her for a moment, then closed her eyes and nodded. She wasn't in the mood for an argument, especially when said argument wouldn't make a difference anyway. "You're right," she said simply, before leaning her forehead against the cool window.

As their conversation ceased and they car continued ever onward, she couldn't help but think her mother was getting the better end of the deal here. This was what Lynne had wanted, right? To go someplace new and start over? Well, she had gotten her wish, and Danielle was pretty sure Lynne wouldn't have a hard time adjusting to their new life. She was going to start working at the bookshop and all the adults in town would love her and it would be all rainbows and sunshine for her. But for Danielle, who was going to have to try to find a way to fit in and make friends with her schoolmates, she didn't think it was going to be so easy. In a small town like Forks, everyone knew each other and everyone was friends. They didn't normally take kindly to outsiders, which is exactly what Danielle was. An outsider. An _outcast_.

This was going to be an absolute nightmare.

* * *

At some point Danielle dozed off, finding herself lulled to sleep by the steady hum of the car engine and the soft music floating through their car speakers. When she finally woke again, the car was stopped and her mother was gently shaking her shoulder.

"We're here," Lynne announced. There was a note of excitement in her voice that was impossible to miss.

Lynne exited the car, and after rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Danielle did the same. While her mother went to the trunk to start unloading the bags that they had brought with them, Danielle took a moment to stand in the driveway and observe their new neighborhood.

It was nicer than she had expected it would be. In her mind, she had imagined that the houses in small towns like this would look old and rundown, but that wasn't the case here. Sure, the houses weren't brand new, but they looked well-kept and actually quite cozy. The yards were huge, too, and the houses were more spaced out, which was a big difference from their neighborhood back in Houston, where the houses had practically been on top of each other. Danielle shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, shivering against the cold wind that whipped around her, and eyed a group of kids playing basketball down the street. She then looked up at her new home, which was a brick, two story house that had leafy vines slowly growing along the outside walls. It was bigger than their house in Texas.

When Lynne walked past her and carried a few bags up to the front door, Danielle finally went to the trunk to grab a few bags containing her clothes. She followed her mother inside, her eyes full of curiosity as she finally stepped into the house and was able to get a good look at everything for the first time. She immediately felt comforted by the familiar site of their furniture, which had been packed into a truck and moved up a week prior to their arrival.

"What do you think?" Lynne asked expectantly, watching as Danielle took everything in.

"It's…nice," Danielle admitted.

Lynne seemed pleased with her approval. "I thought so, too," she said, setting down the bags she'd carried inside. "It's a pretty quiet neighborhood, which should be a nice change," she said, referring to the fact that their old neighborhood had usually been the complete opposite. "I didn't get much of a chance to meet many of the neighbors while I was here helping the movers set up last weekend, but there _is_ a nice man across the street who was kind enough to come and introduce himself. He's the chief of police around here, and he has a daughter about your age, too," she added with raised brows. "And, like you, she just moved here. So maybe you're not so alone after all."

Danielle just nodded in understanding. She had not missed the tone in her mother's voice, the one that was not so subtly hinting that she thought Danielle should be friends with this girl. She could admit that she did kind of like the thought of having a neighbor her age to befriend, but, then again, who was to say they'd even get along? The majority of Danielle's friends back home had been guys simply because teenage girls were catty and dramatic, and Danielle didn't have the time or patience for nonsense like that. If this girl was anything like the girls she had gone to school with back in Texas, Danielle wasn't even going to waste her time.

Her mother headed back outside after that to fetch the rest of the bags from the car. Danielle left her to it and went upstairs so she could haul her clothes to her bedroom. Her room was the first door on the right, and as soon as she saw her bed, already made and with her favorite quilt on top of it, she sighed with relief. Dropping her bags carelessly onto the floor, she went straight for the bed and flopped onto it, her face burying into the pillow.

After a moment or two she rolled onto her back and fished out the flip phone that had been in her back pocket. The urge to call her best friend, Tom Fitzpatrick, hit her swiftly, but when she remembered how much of her complaining he'd had to endure before she had left, she thought maybe it would be better to leave him be for now. She sent him a quick text to let him know that she had finally arrived in Forks safe and sound, and left it at that.

"Here's the last of your things," Lynne said as she appeared in the doorway of Danielle's room. She dropped a bag down onto the ground next to the ones Danielle had deposited there minutes ago, then gave her a pointed look. "Unpack these bags tonight, please," she commanded. "Tomorrow's your first say of school. You don't want to be late just because you had to go searching for clothes."

Lynne left after that, claiming she was going to figure out dinner. Danielle pinched the bridge of her nose and heaved once she was alone. Was a little relaxation time too much to ask? Apparently so.

The ringing of her cell phone made her drop her hand from her face. She quickly checked to see who was calling, then smiled. "Hey, Pickles," she said as she answered the phone, referring to him by one of her favorite nicknames for him. Apparently he wanted to talk anyway, despite the mass amount of griping she had done before leaving Texas.

"Hey yourself, Dani-lani-ding-dong," he responded.

Danielle cringed. "You _know_ I hate that nickname," she said sourly.

"Which is why I keep saying it," Tom countered without missing a beat.

Danielle just laughed and shook her head. "Jerk," she accused good-naturedly.

"Takes one to know one," he retorted smartly.

Danielle sighed, their familiar, friendly banter bringing a pang of longing to her heart. She had known Tom since they had been just kids. They had grown up together and done damn near _everything_ together - they had learned to read, ride bikes, play sports, drive cars. He had been her constant companion over the years, someone she trusted and relied on and cared very much about. He was more than just a friend - he was the brother she had never had. And to be so far away from him now, to know that she wouldn't see his smiling, friendly, familiar face on a daily basis anymore downright sucked.

"So, how's the new town?" Tom asked conversationally, though she thought she could detect a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Small. Cold. Green," she said dully. "It's not Houston, that's for sure," she told him with a small frown.

"You'll get used to it," Tom said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I guess," she agreed without much enthusiasm.

"What have you been doing so far?" Tom asked next.

"I was about to start unpacking, but then you called," she told him.

"Unpacking already after being in a car for so long?" Tom asked incredulously. "Why don't you wait until tomorrow?"

"I've got school tomorrow," she reminded him.

" _What?_ " Tom said, sounded a little outraged. "But it's the middle of the week and you only just got there! Why not just wait until next week to go?"

Danielle sat up in bed and picked at a loose string hanging off the quilt. "Mom said I could wait until next week if I wanted, but I mean...why put it off? Most of the furniture and stuff is already set up, so there isn't much to do around the house. I'll be bored as hell sitting around while mom goes to work. I might as well just start school and get it over with," she explained.

Tom huffed. "Well, I think you're crazy. If it were me, I would've enjoyed a few days off," he said matter-of-factly.

"I think you're just crazy _period_ ," Danielle accused jokingly.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Tom said with a laugh. "Normal people are boring."

Danielle laughed.

"Dani?" Lynne's voice called to her from the first floor. "You're unpacking your clothes, right?" she called next, though the tone she used hinted that she wasn't really _asking_ as so much _telling_ her that she had better be doing as she had been told.

"Yes, Mom!" Danielle called back. Sighing, she turned her attention back to Tom. "Look, I've gotta start unpacking my clothes before my mom comes up here and gives me an earful."

"Alright," Tom said, sounding disappointed. "I miss you already, you weirdo," he then said, his tone obviously sad now.

Danielle smiled sadly. "I miss you too, you goof," she said back. "It's gonna be weird, going to a school that you're not at," she admitted.

"Trust me, I know how you feel," Tom said in return. "Tell all those north-westerners that they better treat you right, otherwise I'm gonna come up there and open up a can of whoop-ass," he added threateningly.

Danielle laughed again. "Will do," she assured him. "Thanks for calling. It was good to hear your voice," she said fondly.

"No problem," Tom said, and she could practically hear the smile in his words. "Good luck at school tomorrow. Just be yourself and everyone will like you just fine," he told her.

"I'll try," Danielle promised. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Alright. Bye."

Danielle finally pulled the phone from her ear and clicked a button to end the call, her heart feeling a bit heavier as she thought about her friend, who she already missed to the point of almost feeling sick. Finally, set her phone aside and forced herself to move past her sadness, then got up to do as her mother had said, knowing Lynne would just continue to hassle her until all of her things were put away.

Danielle turned on the radio that had been set up in her room and started unpacking, hanging her clothes up in her closet and rearranging her belongings to her liking. By the time she had finished, the sun had disappeared and the pizza her mother had decided to order for dinner had arrived. She went downstairs to eat, feeling a little less moody once she had some food in her belly. After dinner she chatted with her mom for a bit, then, when Lynne said she was going to get to work unpacking her own things, Danielle cleaned up their dishes from dinner and headed back upstairs.

After days of being in the car and an entire afternoon of unpacking, it felt good to take a nice, hot shower. Her spirits brightened even more once she was squeaky clean and toasty from the hot water…but the moment she stepped out of her steam-filled bathroom, her spirits dropped again. The house was freezing, no doubt due to the fact that it also freezing outside. Shivering a bit in spite of the pajama pants and long sleeve shirt she wore, Danielle stomped over to the window just to double check that it was closed. Once she was satisfied that there was no way for the cold, traitorous, Washington air to sneak into her room, she glanced out into the street before starting to turn away from the window. Danielle paused, however, when something caught her attention.

Her gaze was on the house across the street, the one that had an old, red truck parked in front of it. It wasn't the truck that had caught her attention, though, nor the house itself. Her eyes were instead peering at a window on the second floor. The curtains were pulled back and she could clearly see the a teenage girl standing there. And currently, that teenage girl was staring right back at Danielle.

The girl seemed to jump a bit when she realized she'd been caught spying, which made Danielle smirk with amusement. Danielle paused, then raised a hand and waved, figuring she might as well do something to acknowledge her. The girl hesitated, then awkwardly waved back. She disappeared from the window after that, and when a few seconds ticked by without a reappearance, Danielle finally closed the curtains over her own window.

She spent the rest of the night in her room, alternating between texting with a few random friends wanting to check in on her and reading one of her books. Eventually her mother, showered and looking exhausted, came upstairs to say goodnight. Once her mother closed the door and retreated back downstairs, Danielle realized how tired she was herself. Thinking it best to get a good night of sleep before her first day at her new school, she closed her book, clicked off the light and got settled in bed.

Just as she rolled onto her side and got comfortable, the rain started. Danielle looked to the window, listening to the roll of thunder and watching lighting flash behind the curtains. She then rolled her eyes and put a pillow over her head, hoping it would be enough to muffle the sounds outside. She'd experienced her fair share of thunderstorms back in Houston, but here in Forks, Washington, rain was as common as oxygen. As she thought about all of the nights of thunderstorms she was likely going to endure for the foreseeable future, she had to heave.

This was definitely going to take some getting used to.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's.

_Chapter One_

Danielle wasn't normally one to overthink the way she dressed or looked on a day to day basis, but when it came time to get ready for school the next morning, she found herself putting a little more effort into her appearance. After taming her shoulder length, copper colored curls and putting on just a bit of lip gloss and mascara, she dove into her closet and proceeded to practically pull out everything she had hung up the night before as she searched for an outfit to wear for her first day at her new school. After contemplating a number of different choices, she finally decided to wear her favorite green sweater and her most comfortable pair of jeans. She then slipped on a pair of sneakers, grabbed her phone and backpack, and headed downstairs.

Danielle soon discovered that Lynne had already gone to inspect the bookshop, which was a little disappointing. She had thought her mother would at least be around to see her off to school. After sighing and deciding it wasn't the end of the world, she went to the fridge to look for something to have for breakfast, only to discover a note hanging on the fridge door.

_Dani –_

_Have a wonderful first day! I can't wait to hear all about your new school! Also, Bella has very kindly offered to give you a ride to school. Be nice, she seems like a nice girl._

_Love, Mom xoxo_

Danielle set the note off to the side when she finished reading it. She could only assume this Bella person was the girl across the street, and while it was nice of her to give her a ride – even though Danielle _highly_ suspected it hadn't been her idea to do so – she wasn't necessarily looking forward to being cooped up in a truck with someone she didn't know. She tried to think of a way to get out of it, but when she remembered that she, one, didn't have a car, and, two, didn't know where the school was, she realized she didn't really have any other choice. It was either go to school with Bella, or not show up for her first day of classes. And seeing as the latter of the two options would likely result in her getting grounded, she decided that probably wasn't the one she should pick.

Danielle opened the fridge to search for something to have for breakfast, only to be swiftly reminded of the fact that they didn't have any groceries in the house yet. The only items in the fridge were bottled water, a few cokes, and the leftover pizza from the night before. Shrugging, she grabbed a slice and started eating, not even bothering to heat it up.

Just as she finished the slice, a timid knock sounded on the front door. Danielle wiped her hands, grabbed her backpack, then checked herself in the hallway mirror to make sure she didn't have any food in her teeth. After deeming herself presentable, she went to the front door and pulled it open.

The girl standing on the porch was shorter than Danielle by a few inches, had long dark hair, brown eyes, and was both pale and rather skinny. Danielle's first impression of her was that she was pretty, and as she shifted nervously from side to side and gave a small, awkward smile, it was clear that she was uncomfortable with the situation at hand. Danielle didn't blame her. She wasn't feeling all that comfortable either.

"You must be Bella," Danielle said to break the silence, plastering on a friendly smile.

"I am," the girl confirmed.

Danielle stuck a hand out. "I'm Danielle."

Bella quickly moved to shake her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too," Danielle said with a nod. When they released each other's hands, Danielle joined Bella on the porch, turning back for just a moment to lock the front door. "Thank you for taking me to school. I know it's kinda weird seeing as we don't know each other. I hope I'm not a burden," Danielle said as she faced her neighbor again.

"None at all," Bella assured her quickly. "I've actually been looking forward to meeting you," she then admitted, which made Danielle's brows raise. Bella blushed a bit, then quickly explained herself. "It's just…moving to a new town is hard, you know? It's kinda nice, having someone around who's in the same boat as me," she said with a shrug.

Danielle made a sound of understanding as she remembered that Bella hadn't been in Forks for long either. "That's right. You're new to town, too," she said.

"Yeah. I haven't even been here a week," Bella told her.

Danielle was surprised to hear that. "Wow. Guess we _are_ in the same boat, huh?" she asked, laughing a bit. Bella smiled and nodded. "Does the boat happen to come with life jackets?" Danielle joked, hoping to break the ice a little more.

It was a corny joke and she knew it, but Bella still laughed. "Only two, I think," she joked back.

"We're in luck then." She shared another smile with Bella, then glanced toward the old, red truck across the street. "Should we get going?"

Bella nodded, and with that they set off across the street. "Sorry about last night, by the way," Bella said as they walked side by side. "I wasn't trying to be some creep spying on you through your window or anything," she explained with a blush.

"It's fine. No harm done," Danielle assured her with a smile.

Bella smiled back, looking relieved. "I like your accent," she complimented.

Danielle cringed a bit. Though she herself had never really thought she had much of an accent – at least, not so much when compared to other people she knew back home – anytime she met someone who wasn't from Texas, they always commented on her southern twang. It normally didn't bother her, but she was dreading her new school enough as it was – she didn't want her mild, Texan drawl to serve as ammunition for anyone looking to make fun of her.

"I don't sound _too_ country, right?" she asked self-consciously.

"No, not really. You can just tell you're not from around here," Bella quickly reassured. "If anything, it gives you character."

"Good," she said in relief.

As they reached the old, red truck, Bella set her backpack in the bed and then went around to the driver's side. Danielle followed her suit, dropping her backpack into the bed of the truck, then went to the passenger side door. It let out a loud _CREAK_ as she pulled it open, then did so again when she made herself comfortable and pulled it shut behind her. Danielle started to put on her seatbelt, but jumped with surprise when the engine came to life with a loud roar. She glanced at Bella, who smiled sheepishly.

"The, uh…engine still needs a bit of work," Bella offered with a shrug, sounding a bit embarrassed.

Danielle smiled and held up a hand. "Hey, I'm not one to judge. At least you _have_ something to drive."

Bella just smiled, her previous embarrassment quickly fading away.

Soon enough, they had pulled away from Bella's house and were en route to school. At first they drove in silence, but eventually Danielle felt the need to get some sort of conversation going.

"So how old are you?" she asked, turning her eyes away from the window to look over at Bella.

"Seventeen," she answered. "You?"

"Eighteen."

"Oh," Bella said, a brief look of disappointment flashing across her face. "So you're a senior?" Danielle nodded in confirmation. "Guess that means we won't have any classes together," Bella commented with a sigh, which led Danielle to believe that Bella was a grade below her.

"You're a junior, then?" Bella nodded. Danielle made a thoughtful sound, then shrugged. "Well, you never know. Maybe we'll have at least _one_ class together." Or that was what she hoped, anyway. Bella was officially the only person she knew in Forks, other than her mother. It would be nice to see a friendly face in some of her classes.

"Maybe," Bella echoed, though she sounded like she didn't want to get her hopes up.

They made small talk the rest of the way. Danielle discovered that Bella had moved to Forks because her mother had recently gotten married to a man who played minor league baseball. He moved around frequently because of that, but due to Bella still being in school, her mother normally couldn't go with him, as she needed to stay home to take care of Bella. In the end, Bella had decided to move to Forks and live with her father, so her mother would have the freedom to travel with her new husband.

"That's gotta be hard, though, being away from your mom," Danielle commented.

Bella sighed and shrugged, her eyes never turning away from the road. "It's not great," she admitted. "But it is what it is." Danielle nodded. "What about you?" Bella asked. "Do you guys have family here?"

"No. None," Danielle answered.

Bella seemed a little confused. "Why come here then?"

Danielle pursed her lips. "It's kind of a long story," she said. "In a nut shell, my mom has been looking for a fresh start in a new place for a long time. And as luck would have it, an opportunity finally presented itself here. Now, voila. Here we are. Forks' newest residents," she finished with a wry smile.

Bella nodded in understanding. "It kinda sucks, though, moving in your senior year. Doesn't it?" she asked.

Danielle sighed. "Yeah. It does," she answered truthfully.

She turned her eyes to the window after that, no longer feeling in the mood to discuss this particular topic of conversation. Thankfully Bella seemed to understand what Danielle was trying to silently convey, because she did not say anything else on the matter.

When they finally reached Forks High, they pulled into the parking lot and parked in the first space they found. The lot was crowded with cars already, and there were many students loitering around, just talking and laughing with each other as they waited for class to start. Danielle did not miss the fact that several students in the near vicinity stared at Bella's truck as they parked, nor did she miss the way some of those students began talking to each other and pointing when they noticed her sitting in the passenger seat.

"Is this how it was for you?" Danielle asked, her self-consciousness returning with a vengeance as a group of teenagers hanging out by a car a few spaces away stared at her like she was a museum exhibit.

" _Was?_ It still _is_ like this," Bella corrected with a huff.

Danielle sighed. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised," she commented.

"Nope," Bella quipped. She then shook her head as she eyed the students around them. "Two newbies in one week? They won't even know what to do with themselves. But hey," she added with a tiny smirk. "Now that you're here, maybe I'll get a break from all the staring."

Danielle snorted. "You're welcome?" she offered with a quirked brow.

Bella just smiled. "Ready to face them?" she asked, jerking her head toward the school.

Danielle heaved. "As ready as I'll ever be," she said with slight resignation.

"Let's go, then," Bella encouraged.

They climbed out of the truck at the same time and headed for the bed to collect their backpacks. Now that she had left the protection of Bella's truck, Danielle felt vulnerable and exposed, especially so when a group of guys strode past and gave her blatant once-overs, before grinning and nudging each other. She nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to ignore them, then slung her bag onto her back and began walking up to the school with Bella.

The school didn't really look all that big, which didn't really surprise her considering the size of the town. As they walked toward the front doors, the crowds seemed to part for them, and as Danielle made eye contact with a few of her new peers, she smiled shyly. A few smiled back, but most just whispered to their friends behind their hands.

Once inside, Bella led her toward what looked like a bunch of offices to the left. "This is the front office. You should go there first," she said. "Do you want me to wait?" she then offered, tilting her head a bit. "You might need a tour guide for this _humongous_ school," Bella added jokingly, shifting the bag on her shoulder.

"Thanks, but I think I can figure it out," she said reassuringly. "I'll see you later?"

Bella nodded. "See ya."

Bella headed off after that. Danielle stood there for a moment and watched her go, until the shorter girl eventually disappeared from sight. Though she hadn't really known what to expect when her mother had told her about the girl living across the street, she decided in that moment that she liked Bella. She was pretty easy to talk to, and they seemed to get along well. She just might very well be Danielle's first friend here in Forks.

Whispering behind Danielle snapped her out of her thoughts. Glancing around, she realized that several nearby students were giving her looks and very obviously talking about her. Danielle immediately turned toward the front office and hurried inside, eager to get away from the staring.

She was greeted by a woman who instantly knew who she was, which didn't surprise Danielle much. With the exception of herself and Bella, it wasn't likely the school got new students very often – of course the people working in the front office would know she was coming.

Danielle waited in the front office for a few minutes before one of the school counselors came to collect her. From there she was shown into a separate office, where she received basic information about the school and its policies. After listening to the counselor talk for another ten or so minutes, she was finally given three papers. One was a map of the school, another had her class schedule, locker number, and locker combination, while the last was a note to her teachers explaining who she was. She was then instructed to have all of her teachers sign the note and bring it back at the end of the day, and though she wasn't really sure why that was necessary, Danielle agreed to do so. From there she was told good luck, then finally sent on her way.

Danielle hung out outside the office for a few minutes so she could look over her class schedule. She had Calculus first, which made her groan with dread. Math was her worst subject, and having it first thing in the morning sounded like torture. After Calculus was English, followed by History, then Spanish. Next on her schedule was her lunch break, then Physics, and, finally, Gym.

Danielle found her first class on the map, then headed that way. Luckily it was on the first floor, and since the school was considerably smaller than her previous one, it didn't take long to find the classroom. She walked in just before the bell rang, then instantly froze upon realizing that every single eye in the room was on her. Clearing her throat nervously, Danielle crossed the room and walked up to her teacher, who was looking at her with interest as she extended the note from the counselor in his direction.

"Ah, yes," he mused aloud as his eyes skimmed the note. "I was told you would be starting today. Danielle Clark, is it?"

"Yes, sir," Danielle quickly confirmed, trying to diligently ignore the way her classmates were watching her.

The teacher nodded, then grabbed a pen and quickly signed the note. "Welcome to Forks, Miss Clark," he said, handing the note back over. "Here's a text book," he said next, fetching a spare book and passing it to her. "And there's a seat right back there with your name on it," he finished with a friendly smile.

"Thanks," she said with a quick, shy smile.

Clutching her new book to her chest, Danielle turned around to face the class. She blushed as she began making her way through the rows of desks, her sights set on the empty one toward the back of the room. As she walked, she glanced around at her classmates, who were all watching her pass by with varying expressions of interest and curiosity.

She was almost to her seat when her gaze suddenly landed on a guy sitting two rows over. As their gazes locked, Danielle froze in place and her stomach did a quick somersault.

In an instant, she knew that he was, without a doubt, the most attractive person she'd ever seen in her entire life. He had honey blonde hair, a straight nose, high cheekbones, a strong jaw line, and a dimple in his chin that Danielle instantly liked. He was in good shape, and he also looked like he would be quite tall if he were to stand up.

But then she saw his eyes, and she quickly stopped thinking about how good looking he was. At first she thought they were just dark, but then she realized they were _more_ than that. They were _black_. And the intensity with which he stared at her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. There was no curiosity or interest on his face as he watched her. No, there was something different in his gaze. Something she couldn't put her finger on. Something that made her feel very uneasy.

"Miss Clark?" the teacher asked, making her jump as she was pulled back to reality.

She realized that she had just been standing there, staring at the guy like an idiot for all the class to see. She blushed fiercely and finally tore her gaze from his, not even wanting to think how weird she must look to her classmates.

"Sorry," she said, before rushing to her seat in the back. More than a few students giggled.

Once she was in her seat, the teacher took his place at the front of class and launched into his lesson for the day. For the most part, Danielle did her best to pay attention and keep up with the lesson. However, she couldn't stop her eyes from sliding over to the blonde haired guy sitting two rows over every so often. She also couldn't help but notice that he kept shooting not-so-discreet looks at her over his shoulder, his eyes still filled with that same intensity from before.

Danielle would be lying if she said he wasn't making her nervous. She had been stared at plenty since she'd arrived at school and had a feeling the staring would continue for several days to come. But the way he was looking at her was a little…unsettling. Why was he _looking_ at her like that? And how were his eyes so dark? They couldn't _really_ be black, could they? That wasn't even possible, not without contacts or something. But then their eyes met again, and even if she was trying to convince herself otherwise, there was no denying that his eyes were _definitely_ black, something only _she_ seemed to have noticed.

When the bell eventually rang to signal the end of the class period, Danielle watched as the blonde haired guy practically jumped out of his seat and hurried for the door, beating everyone as he was the first to leave. Once he was out of sight, she released the breath she had been holding and began to pack her things into her bag. She was relieved to have made it through her first class, but was even more relieved to get away from the blonde haired guy. She didn't know how much more of that intense, hawk-like staring she could take.

After another quick look at her map, she headed on toward her next class, ignoring the students in the hallways as they talked and horsed around between classes, but still keeping a wary eye out for the guy from her last class. Finally, when she reached her next class, she stepped inside and took a quick look around. When she spotted a tell-tale head of blonde hair sitting on the far side of the room, she felt her breath catch in her throat.

He was there. They had another class together.

His eyes seemed to widen a bit when he realized she was there, then he scowled and looked away, before closing his eyes. He seemed almost _angry_ about the fact that she was there, though Danielle didn't understand why. They didn't even know each other. Why was he acting like that?

Feeling confused and uncomfortable, she hurried to the teacher to give him the same note she'd given her last one. He took it with a nod, then murmured for her to find a seat. Danielle quickly picked the one furthest away from the blonde. It wasn't long before she felt eyes on her back, however, and when she chanced a look over her shoulder, she was not surprised to see him staring at her again, his eyes dark and unblinking.

Danielle paid close attention to her teacher as he began the lesson for the day, hoping if she focused extra hard that it would make it easier to ignore the blonde staring holes into the back of her head. The end of the period couldn't come fast enough, and when the bell _finally_ rang, it was Danielle who bolted for the door this time. She packed up her things lightning fast and practically ran for the door, still very aware that she was being watched, but refusing to look at him again. She didn't know what his deal was, but something in her gut was telling her to stay away from him.

Danielle hurried out into the hallway, which was steadily filling up as students filed out of their classes. She only made it a few steps, though, when she remembered that her last teacher hadn't returned the note from the counselor after he signed it at the beginning of class. Cursing under her breath, she turned back around to go back into the class and collect the note. Just as she turned, however, she ran right into what felt like a brick wall.

She had run into _him_ , the blonde. And the only reason she hadn't fallen right on her butt was because he had his hands wrapped around her biceps. Two very _strong_ hands, holding her in a grip that she already knew would prevent her from going anywhere if she tried to leave. Danielle looked up into his black eyes, her heart suddenly pounding against her ribs. He _was_ on the tall side, tall enough that she had to tilt her chin up to meet his gaze. There was no mistaking the look on his face now. He looked predatory, vicious, _dangerous_. Danielle's breathing picked up and she tried to pull away from him, but he only tightened his grip even more and pulled her closer. Even through the material of her sweater, she could feel how icy cold his hands were.

Danielle began to feel a growing sense of panic. Something inside was telling her that something was wrong, that something about this entire situation was _dangerous_. She tried to pull away again, but he was just too strong. She stood no chance.

"Please let go. You're hurting me," she said, her tone almost pleading.

His jaw clenched and his fingers tightened, but something in his expression shifted. Some of the harshness left, replaced by something that looked a lot like pain. He seemed like he was fighting some internal battle, though what that battle was exactly, Danielle didn't know.

Suddenly someone very tall and very large appeared behind the blonde currently holding her in a vice grip. He dropped a heavy hand on the blonde's shoulder, which made the blonde blink as though coming out of a trance. He finally released her, and as soon as she was free, Danielle took a giant step backward and rubbed her arms, her lips pulling downward into a frown of fear.

The humongous guy who had just arrived looked at Danielle for a second. He had dark hair and amber colored eyes, was built like a brick house, and was easy on the eyes. Though he seemed to know that something was amiss, his demeanor was cool as a cucumber…on the outside, at least. He looked away from Danielle without saying a word to her. "Let's go, Jasper," he said, before using the hold that he had on the blonde to turn him around and guide him away.

She watched them go until they were out of sight, then sighed heavily and moved to the nearest wall to lean against it.

She honestly couldn't say that she knew what had just happened. Why had that Jasper guy behaved that way? Why had he seemed so _angry_ with her? Danielle had not spoken to him in either of their classes, nor had she really even gone anywhere near him. What could she have _possibly_ done to provoke that sort of reaction? And why had he seemed like he'd wanted to… _hurt_ her? Danielle rubbed her arm again and looked in the general direction that Jasper and the other guy, whom she assumed was his friend, had gone. She didn't know what the hell this Jasper guy's problem was, but she knew it would probably be best to steer clear of him if possible.

She just hoped now that they wouldn't have any more classes together.

* * *

After taking a moment to collect herself, she retrieved the counselor's note from her English teacher and continued on to her next class. Between that awkward interaction with the guy named Jasper, having to go back into her previous class, _and_ having to find her next class on the map, she wasn't able to beat the tardy bell this time around. The bell dinged overhead before she could reach the door, which meant that her entrance into the classroom garnered her twice as much attention.

Flushing with embarrassment, she let her eyes quickly sweep over the crowd. Jasper wasn't there, which made her very happy to see. But as her eyes landed on a large, dark haired guy sitting in the back of the class, she realized with a sinking feeling that his friend was.

"You wouldn't happen to be Miss Clark, would you?" asked the teacher, effectively pulling her attention away from Jasper's friend.

Danielle looked at her teacher, then forced on a smile. "I am," she confirmed. She then went up to the teacher to give her the counselor's note. "Sorry I'm late. I'm still trying to figure out where everything is," she added with an apologetic look.

"I understand," the teacher said, before quickly scribbling her signature on the note and handing it back. "But for future reference, know that I do not tolerate tardiness in my classroom," she warned with raised brows. "Once you've become familiar with the school, which shouldn't take long at all," she made sure to emphasize, "I will expect you to be on time."

"Yes, ma'am," Danielle said with a quick nod.

The teacher smiled a bit, then motioned toward the desks. "Go ahead and have a seat, Miss Clark."

Danielle nodded again, then turned to search for an open seat. As luck would have it, the only vacant desk was the one next to Jasper's friend. After a moment of hesitation, she went to sit at the desk on his left, doing her best to avoid making eye contact. She thanked her teacher when she came to drop off a spare text book, then quickly opened it up to the designated page as the lesson began. She could feel someone watching her though, and when she finally chanced a look in his direction, she was not surprised to see that it was Jasper's friend staring.

"Hey," he said quietly, keeping his voice down so as not to disturb the teacher.

Danielle just glanced at him, then looked back at her text book. He wasn't deterred by her response, though. Instead, he glanced at the teacher, who was writing on the chalk board, before discreetly moving his desk a few inches closer. How someone so big could move so quietly, Danielle didn't know, but the teacher didn't seem to notice anything.

"Look. I want to apologize for my brother's actions," he said just as quietly, his expression remorseful, but also a bit wary.

 _That_ certainly caught her attention. Danielle looked at him in surprise, shocked to discover that this guy was Jasper's brother simply because they looked _nothing_ alike. "He's your _brother_?" she questioned.

"Yeah. And whatever happened back there, that's _not_ him. He's a good guy, I swear. He can just be a little… _moody_ …sometimes," he said with a helpless shrug.

Danielle raised her brows at him in disbelief. " _Moody?_ " she echoed.

Suddenly she felt her anger spike. Jasper had touched her without permission, had been _aggressive_ about it, and had looked like he had wanted to _hurt_ her. And now here his brother was trying to downplay it like they'd just had a simple misunderstanding?

"Your brother was completely out of line," she hissed. "I don't know what his problem is, but whatever _that_ was, that was more than just being a little _moody._ That was something else. And to be honest, he scared the _crap_ out of me."

He winced at those words. "You're right. He was out of line," he agreed. "He's normally a friendly guy, I promise," he then added, still trying to vouch for his brother. "He was just having an off day today." Danielle just shot him a look, which made him sigh. "I'm sorry he scared you, but you don't have anything to worry about here. Nothing like that is ever going to happen again, you have my word," he told her seriously.

Danielle wasn't sure why, but she found her anger beginning to fade and felt herself wanting to believe what he was telling her. There was no deception in his eyes or in his tone. He seemed genuinely sorry for the way his brother had behaved and seemed like he was trying very hard to make up for it. Danielle pursed her lips, then finally sighed. "Alright, I'll take your word for it…for _now_ ," she added sharply.

He just smiled in return, looking a bit relieved. He then extended a large hand in her direction. "I'm Emmett, by the way. Emmett Cullen."

Danielle looked at his outstretched hand before slipping her hand into his. Like Jasper, his hand was ice cold. It was also twice as big as hers. "Danielle Clark," she responded.

Emmett seemed like he was going to say something else, but before he could, a voice at the front of the room caught their attention. "Mr. Cullen! Miss Clark!" Both of them started a bit and looked to the teacher, who had finally noticed they weren't paying attention and was not looking thrilled about it. "As glad as I am to see the two of you getting along," she said with sarcasm, "do you mind saving your oh-so-important conversation until _after_ class is finished?"

"Yes ma'am," they said in almost perfect unison.

The teacher gave them one last look, then turned back to the board to resume writing. Danielle looked at Emmett, who rolled his eyes dramatically before directing his attention back to the teacher. Danielle couldn't help but smirk with slight amusement.

When class was over, Danielle fully expected Emmett to just continue on his way without saying another word to her. But, to her surprise, he didn't do that. Instead, he waited for her to pack her things, then followed her out of the classroom.

"Where's your next class?" he asked curiously.

Danielle pulled her schedule from her pocket to look it over. "Mrs. Vega, Spanish," she answered.

"Oh, I had her last year," Emmett said with a nod. "I'll show you where her class is," he then said, before nodding for her to follow him down the hall.

Danielle wasn't sure she should go with him at first. After that strange interaction with Jasper, she wasn't sure if hanging out with his _brother_ was a good idea. But when Emmett stopped and gave her an expectant look, she finally gave in and followed him. As they fell into step with each other and made their way through the crowd, she noticed that a number of students watched them pass by with obvious surprise.

"So, you're from Texas?" Emmett asked conversationally.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Danielle countered, craning her neck a bit so she could look up at him.

"I know someone from Texas," he answered with a casual shrug, his eyes scanning the crowds before turning down to her. "I'd recognize that southern twang anywhere," he joked with a friendly smile. "Plus, this school isn't very big and word gets around pretty fast. I'm sure everyone at Forks High knows where you're from by now."

"I see," Danielle said with a nod of understanding.

Silence passed between them for a few moments as they continued along. Danielle wouldn't necessarily consider herself a _shy_ person per se, but considering what had happened with Emmett's brother, it felt a bit awkward to be in Emmett's company now. She couldn't really think of what to say to him, nor was she entirely sure she knew why he had wanted to walk with her. _Probably_ _just being extra nice to make up for Jasper being a total jerk,_ she thought to herself.

"You don't have to walk me to class, you know," she finally said.

"I know," Emmett said. "But I also know what it feels like to be the new kid on the block. Figured it'd be nice to extend a friendly hand rather than sit back and stare like everyone _else_ is doing," he explained, motioning to the staring students around them.

His words had her looking at him curiously. "Your family hasn't always lived here?" she asked.

Emmett shook his head. "No. We've only been here a few years, actually," he then revealed. "We moved here when my father got a job at the local hospital."

"I see." Danielle watched a couple of kids hurry to move out of their way. Their eyes were trained on Emmett, however, not on her. They seemed afraid of him. "So when does it get better?" she asked. "The staring, I mean," she added when Emmett gave her a confused look, as if he wasn't sure what she was asking about. "How long until people act _normal_ around me?"

"Eh, give it a week or two," he said with a shrug. "Eventually they'll get bored with you."

"They don't seem bored with _you_ ," Danielle said pointedly when she noticed a couple of girls openly ogling Emmett.

Emmett pursed his lips at that. "Us Cullen's are a different story," he admitted, frowning a bit now. "You would think the hype around us would've died down after two years of being here, but nope."

"Why?" Danielle asked.

Emmett suddenly grinned down at her, his amber colored eyes flickering with mischief. "Because we're so good looking, of course," he said simply, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Danielle snorted at that and shook her head, unable to help smiling in amusement. She supposed Emmett wasn't _wrong_ , though. She had no idea how many Cullen's there were, but the two she had met were certainly not unfortunate looking. Emmett might've been a big, burly giant, but as she took a good look at him, she decided he was definitely cute, even if he wasn't exactly her type. And even though her encounter with Jasper had been less than pleasant, there was absolutely no denying that he was drop dead gorgeous. If that was how _they_ looked, she could imagine what the rest of the family had to look like.

Finally, they came to a halt outside of Danielle's next class. As students filed inside, she and Emmett received numerous, odd looks.

"Here you go. Mrs. Vega's class," Emmett announced.

Danielle nodded, then smiled a bit. "Thanks for the escort."

"No problem," Emmett said. "And I know I already said it, but…I'm sorry about what happened between you and Jasper," he added with an apologetic look. "He's honestly a good guy. You just…caught him at a bad time."

Danielle quirked a brow. "It's not _you_ who should be apologizing," she pointed out. "He was the one acting like a jerk, not you."

"And he _will_ apologize the first chance he gets," Emmett assured her with a nod. "I'll make sure of it."

Danielle eyed him for a moment, then nodded. "I need to get to class now," she said. "Thanks again for showing me the way."

"You're welcome," Emmett said. "I'll catch you later, Danielle."

He walked away after that, the crowds parting again to make way for his massive frame. Once she couldn't see him any longer, she finally turned and headed into her class.

* * *

It was an enormous relief when she stepped into class and caught sight of a familiar face. Bella was sitting in the second row, third desk back, and when their eyes met, she instantly looked just as relieved to see Danielle there. After smiling and waving, Danielle hurried to the teacher to get her note signed and collect a textbook. She then went to sit in the desk on Bella's right, which she had been saving just for her.

"Man, is it good to see you!" she said, feeling the tension that had been in her muscles ever since her run in with Jasper dissipate some.

"Same," Bella said with a smile. "How has your day gone so far?" she asked with curiosity.

For a moment, all Danielle could see in her mind was Jasper's handsome face and his dark, angry eyes. She thought about telling Bella what had happened, but then changed her mind. Now didn't seem like the time or the place to discuss it. "It's been…interesting," she finally said with a shrug.

"I bet," Bella said with a nod. She seemed none-the-wiser that anything was amiss with Danielle. "What does the rest of your day look like?"

"I have lunch next, then Physics, then gym," Danielle told her.

Bella grinned. "Looks like we'll see even more of each other. I have lunch next too, and gym at the end of the day."

Danielle smiled as well, happy to hear that she had some classes with her new neighbor. "Awesome."

They might have talked more, but the bell rang to signal the start of class and the teacher took her place at the chalkboard to start the lesson. They ceased their conversation after that to pay attention, and only spoke to each other again when they paired together to work on a quick exercise about halfway through the period.

"I'm starving," Danielle commented when class was finally finished and they were on their way to the cafeteria. "All I had for breakfast was cold pizza, and it ain't doing much for me right now."

"At least you _had_ breakfast," Bella replied. "I woke up late and had to skip. I feel like I could eat everything in the cafeteria."

When they reached the cafeteria, they got in line for food and made small talk with each other. People were staring at them, of course, but Danielle hardly noticed. After being subjected to staring all day, she felt like she was starting to get used to it.

As they slowly moved up the line, she let her eyes roam the cafeteria, which was full of students talking and laughing loudly with one another. When her eyes landed on a table near the exit, she felt her heart skip a beat, then begin to hammer against her ribs. She had spotted Emmett and Jasper, as well as two other girls that she could only assume were Cullen's as well, judging by their appearance. Emmett and the girls seemed to be in the middle of an intense discussion, but Jasper wasn't paying attention to them. He sat stiffly in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, and even though there were several yards of space and dozens of students between them, it was obvious his attention was focused solely on _her_.

Danielle blushed and gulped, knowing she should probably turn her gaze elsewhere, but unable to pull her eyes from his regardless. It seemed that two class periods worth of time hadn't quite been enough for him to get over whatever was going on with him – he didn't look _as_ frightening as he had earlier, but he certainly didn't look friendly or approachable either. Danielle wouldn't have gone near him even if someone had paid her to.

A nudge to her side finally brought her back to the present. She blinked and looked at Bella, who was watching her with mild concern. "You okay?"

Danielle cleared her throat, then nodded jerkily. "Er…yeah. Fine," she answered quickly. Bella didn't look like she believed her. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you look like you've just seen a ghost," Bella pointed out.

She glanced in the general direction that Danielle had been looking, as if searching for the source of her distraction. Danielle unconsciously looked at the table the Cullen's were sitting at, and though Jasper was still very much staring at her, he wasn't the only one. Emmett was looking too, and upon realizing she was looking their way, he plastered on a friendly smile and raised a giant hand to wave at her. He stopped when the beautiful blonde girl sitting next to him, whom she figured was likely his sister, delivered a firm whack to his side.

Bella raised her brows at Danielle. "Was he waving at _you_?" she asked.

"Yeah," Danielle confirmed. "I have a class with him. I have a few with Jasper, too," she added.

Bella looked back at the Cullen's, her expression unreadable. Danielle looked at them, too, her eyes almost feeling magnetized to them – or, more specifically, to Jasper. Jasper was still a statue, but his three siblings kept glancing in her direction. The other girl, who had short dark hair and a friendly face, was eyeing Danielle with curiosity. The blonde girl, however, was looking at her like she was a dangerous bug that needed to be squashed.

"What do you know about them?" Danielle asked Bella as they finally reached the front of the line and began to fill two trays with food.

"Only stuff I've heard around school," Bella said. "They're all adopted, and their dad is a doctor. They've been here a few years, but nobody is really friends with them. I guess they don't really like other people or something," she explained, her brows furrowing a bit as she glanced at the Cullen's again.

Danielle nodded in understanding. She couldn't speak for the other three, but Jasper certainly seemed like he didn't like other people. If he went around treating everyone the way he'd treated her, it really wasn't a surprise that he didn't have friends.

"What do you think of them?" Bella asked curiously.

"Emmett seemed nice," she said truthfully. Then she snorted and shot a look at the handsome blonde still watching her every move. "Can't say the same thing for Jasper, though," she blurted out before she could stop herself. "He seems like a jerk."

She frowned in the next moment, because if she wasn't mistaken, Jasper tensed and sat straighter the moment she said those words, as if he had known she was talking about him. But _certainly_ he hadn't been able to hear her calling her a jerk all the way from _here._ She was too far away, and the cafeteria was way too loud. _Maybe he has really good eyesight and is good at reading lips_ , she justified in her head.

Bella looked at her with a frown. "What do you mean?"

Danielle sighed, then shook her head. "It's kind of a weird story. And I'd rather not go into it right now," she admitted quietly, thinking it better not to talk about the scary encounter while there were so many people around to eavesdrop.

Bella seemed like she wanted to pry for a moment, but then eventually nodded her head and let the subject drop. There was a very pensive look on her face, however, one that let Danielle know that she was definitely still thinking about everything she'd just been told.

After they paid for their food, Bella told Danielle to follow her and they went to a table full of people that Danielle had not met yet. She was quickly introduced to a friendly looking girl named Angela, a pretty girl named Jessica, an Asian guy named Eric, a dark-skinned guy named Tyler, and a blonde haired guy named Mike. As they quickly made space for Danielle and Bella to sit, Danielle made sure to sit so that she _wasn't_ facing Jasper.

"Well, whatever happened between you two," Bella murmured for only Danielle to hear, "Jasper's watching you like a _hawk_."

Danielle felt her face heat up, but kept her eyes forward, refusing to look at him again.

"So, Danielle," the girl named Jessica spoke up, grabbing Danielle's attention. She was happy for the distraction. "How are you liking Forks so far?"

"I haven't seen much of it, to be honest," she answered. "My mom and I just got in yesterday. All I've seen so far is my house and the school," she explained with a shrug.

"Well, I know it may not seem like much at first," spoke up the girl named Angela, "but it's really a nice town," she told her with a nod. "It's quiet and it's safe, and the people are friendly."

" _Most_ of the people, anyway," the one named Mike interjected, before shooting a look in the direction Danielle knew the Cullen's were sitting.

Angela, Jessica, and the other two guys rolled their eyes, as if this was a conversation they'd had a hundred times before. "Admit it, dude. You're just _jealous_ of them," Tyler accused.

Mike scoffed. "What is there to be jealous of?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe their awesome cars? Their awesome clothes? Or maybe you're jealous of the fact that literally _everyone_ in that family is better looking than you will ever be in your entire life?" Eric offered sarcastically.

Mike just snorted at him and shook his head.

Danielle glanced at Bella, who merely spared her a look before taking a big bite of food. Jessica finally seemed to notice her uncertainty and leaned forward. "We're talking about the Cullen family," she said. Danielle had to resist the urge to look back to the table Jasper and his siblings occupied. Jessica then smirked, her eyes lighting with interest. "But you already _know_ the Cullen's, don't you?"

Danielle frowned, unsure what to make of the girl's tone. "I'm familiar, yeah," she said, before taking a bite of food.

Jessica raised her brows knowingly. "From what _I_ hear, you've gotten pretty friendly with a few of them already," she pushed further. As everyone suddenly peered at her with interest, Danielle's cheeks felt a little warmer. "A girl in my English class said she saw Emmett Cullen walking you to class before fourth period," Jessica revealed to the table. "And _another_ girl said she saw you and Jasper Hale having a moment in the hallway. She said it was… _intense_ looking."

Though hearing Jessica refer to Jasper as Jasper _Hale_ rather than _Cullen_ confused her a bit, she didn't bother asking her to clarify why his name was different. Instead, she felt increasingly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation and found herself actually feeling a bit _annoyed_ with Jessica for bringing it up in the first place. She didn't know if Jessica was insinuating anything or not, but she _did_ know that she didn't like the way this conversation was going.

"Emmett was just being friendly and showing me the way to my class," she quickly defended. "And there was no _moment_ between me and Jasper. It was…nothing," she added. Which was a lie, but she definitely wasn't about to reveal the truth of that encounter to people she had only just met.

Jessica didn't seem to be buying it. "Well, I've been around the Cullen's for a while, and let me just say that them being nice to anyone is a _big_ deal. But a word of warning? I wouldn't get too friendly with Emmett if I were you," she suggested. "He and Rosalie? The blonde girl he's sitting next to? They're a _thing_. And I don't think she'd like it very much if she knew you were getting too _close_ to him, if you know what I mean."

Danielle's brows furrowed with uncertainty. "They're together? But…they're family," she stated in confusion.

"Well, yeah, but they're not _blood_ related," Jessica countered.

"Doesn't make it any less weird," Eric piped up between bites of his lunch.

"They're _all_ weird if you ask me," Mike added with a huff.

"Again, you're just jealous," Tyler accused yet again. "Jasper, Emmett, and Edward have all the girls drooling over them and you hate it."

As Mike threw a chunk of food at Tyler, Danielle frowned with confusion. "Who's Edward?" she asked curiously. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Bella stiffen a bit.

"He's also one of Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's adoptive kids, and he's a _total_ babe," Jessica told her with a dreamy expression. The guys snorted and rolled their eyes in response. "He hasn't been here since Monday, though. Probably went camping again. The Cullen's tend to do that a lot."

Danielle nodded her understanding, then glanced at Bella, who was suddenly very interested in her food. She thought the shift in Bella's demeanor was a bit strange, but didn't think it would be a good idea to ask questions about it now. Danielle pulled her gaze away from Bella and looked at Jessica, who had shifted her gaze back to the Cullen table. After a moment, she turned a knowing grin on Danielle.

"Are you _sure_ you and Jasper didn't have a moment earlier?" she questioned with a waggle of her brows. "Because he hasn't stopped looking at you since you sat down."

Danielle blushed again and quickly shoveled food into her mouth to avoid having to answer her question. Thankfully, Angela seemed to notice how uncomfortable Jessica was making her feel and decided to come to the rescue.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" she said, giving Jessica a look that clearly said to stop pestering Danielle. After a quick stare down, she turned to Danielle. "Why don't you tell me about Texas? I'd love to hear about where you grew up," she encouraged with a smile.

Danielle couldn't help feeling grateful to Angela for finally steering the subject away from the Cullen family. She happily focused her attention on Angela and they spent the rest of lunch in easy, comfortable conversation. By the time their lunch period was coming to an end, Danielle had already decided that she liked Angela. She was friendly and nice and seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. In fact, she liked everyone Bella had introduced her too…for the most part. Jessica seemed friendly enough, but it was obvious she was also a gossip, which Danielle wasn't a big fan of. She wouldn't mind being friends with Jessica, but she certainly would be careful about what she said around her.

As a bell dinged overhead to signal that it was time to go to their next class, Danielle, Bella, and the rest of the table all left their seats and went to throw their trash away. As she trailed behind the others, Danielle braved a look back at the Cullen table and saw that Jasper had already disappeared from the cafeteria. Emmett and the other two Cullen's were still there, however, and were looking back and forth between her and what she assumed was the direction Jasper had gone. Danielle quickly faced forward again and continued on her way without another look backward.

* * *

Danielle's next class was a piece of cake, and that was due in large part to the fact that there wasn't a single Cullen present. Breathing easier and feeling like she could finally relax, she eased into a desk in the front row and settled in for the lesson, her previous thoughts of Jasper and his family finally fading to the back of her mind as she scribbled notes in her notebook.

After Physics she headed to gym, where she met up with Bella again. Since it was her first day, the gym teacher decided to give Danielle a free pass and let her sit out. Bella, however, had no choice but to participate. As Danielle sat on the sidelines and watched the girl attempt to play volleyball with the rest of the class, it became apparent pretty quickly that Bella had _zero_ athletic ability. Bella was about as graceful as a newborn giraffe, and as she stumbled all over the place and accidently hit at least three different people with the ball, Danielle stifled her laughter behind her hand, not wanting to laugh out loud and possibly offend her new friend.

When the final bell rang to signal the end of the school day, Danielle lingered outside the locker rooms while she waited for Bella to finish changing. When Bella finally joined her out in the hall, the girl looked positively mortified.

"God, that was humiliating," Bella said, shaking her head with despair.

Danielle suppressed a grin, her eyes dancing with amusement. "Actually, from what I saw, you were the best one out there. I think you should consider going pro," she teased with a smirk.

"Ha _ha,_ " Bella said sarcastically. "You're so funny."

"I like to think so," Danielle joked without missing a beat.

Bella just snorted and shook her head, a smile of amusement tugging at her lips.

They made a quick stop at their lockers to grab the things they'd need for homework that night, headed to the counselor's office so Danielle could drop off the note she'd gotten signed by all her teachers, then finally made their way to the parking lot. Danielle kept her eyes peeled for any sign of the Cullen's as they crossed the parking lot, but, to her relief, she didn't see them anywhere. It seemed like they had already left.

Danielle let out a long sigh when she was finally seated within the safety of Bella's loud, red truck. "One day down, a hundred something more to go," she said, letting her head drop back against the headrest.

Bella smiled with what looked like sympathy. "But who's counting, right?" she said, raising her brows.

Danielle just gave her a small smile in return.

The drive home was pretty quiet. They made small talk at first, then eventually fell silent and chose to listen to music instead. At some point, when they were stopped at a red light, Danielle felt Bella's eyes on her. She glanced over and saw that her new friend was staring at her with furrowed brows, giving Danielle the distinct impression that she had something she was contemplating saying. Bella didn't voice whatever was on her mind, though. She merely turned her eyes forward again, her fingers drumming on the steering wheel until the light finally turned green.

Soon enough they were parking in front of Bella's house. They both retrieved their backpacks from the bed, then turned to face one another.

"Thanks again for toting me around today," Danielle said with a smile. "I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem," Bella said with a nod. "Same time tomorrow?" she then asked.

Danielle tilted her head with uncertainty. It was a nice offer, but she didn't want Bella to feel obligated to take her to school every day. "You don't have to. I can probably get my mom to drop me off."

Bella waved her words away. "I don't mind. Honestly," she insisted.

Danielle thought about it, then nodded. "Okay. But only if you let me give you gas money," she bartered. Bella looked like she might argue for a second, so Danielle quickly spoke up before she could. "It's nonnegotiable. If I'm gonna take up space in your truck, I'm giving you gas money. And that's that," she said with a note of finality.

Bella sighed, then shrugged. "Alright then," she conceded.

Danielle smiled, shifted the backpack hanging from her shoulder, then turned to leave before Bella could change her mind. "See ya tomorrow," she called over her shoulder.

"See ya," Bella called back.

Danielle jogged up the steps to her porch, located her keys in her backpack, then unlocked the door. As soon as she was inside, she dropped her bag on the ground and went into the living room, where she flopped face down on the couch. She lay there for a few moments, then shifted around so she was laying on her back instead, one arm falling over her eyes to block out the light in the room.

 _What a day_ , she thought to herself, a heavy sigh escaping her nose.

In a way she was relieved, because now the hard part was over. She had gone to her new school and faced her new peers. The staring had sucked, yeah, and there had been plenty of awkward moments, but she knew in time things would get better. Eventually the shock of her arrival would wear off and she wouldn't be a subject of interest anymore, which meant life might actually get back to some semblance of normalcy. It could only get easier from here, right?

But then she started to think about what had happened between her and Jasper, and as she remembered that she would have to face him first thing in the morning, her feelings of relief were quickly overshadowed by an undeniable sense of dread. After the way he had behaved today, she was not looking forward to seeing him again. Emmett had assured her that the incident outside their English class would not be repeated, but what if he was wrong? What if Jasper was in another _mood_ tomorrow? What if he grabbed her again? What if he _really_ hurt her this time? What if he had it out for her or something?

Danielle frowned, then shook her head. Maybe she was beginning to get too carried away with all this. After all, it wasn't like Jasper was some psycho serial killer or something. Maybe it was just like Emmett had said – she had caught him at a bad time and he had, unfortunately, taken whatever was bothering him out on _her._ She could certainly recall times when she had been stressed out and flown off the handle at people who had nothing to do with the problem simply because they were _there._ It was very possible that was what had happened with Jasper earlier. He had been stressed and she had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Danielle frowned deeper, suddenly feeling confused. Why the hell was she making excuses for him? He had _still_ put his hands on her without permission, and he _had_ hurt her. Plain and simple, that was _not_ okay. No amount of stress or frustration on his part would ever justify that sort of behavior. She might have been too shocked and scared at the time to do anything about it, but she vowed right then and there that if he attempted anything like that again that she would make him pay for it.

The ringing of her cell phone finally drew her from her thoughts. She hopped up from the couch and ran for her backpack, quickly retrieving her phone from the side zipper. It was her mother calling.

"Hey, Mom," she said in greeting.

"Hi, sweetie!" Lynne responded enthusiastically. "How was school?"

Danielle shrugged, even though her mother wasn't there to see it. "It was okay," she answered vaguely.

"How did you and Bella get along?" Lynne asked next.

Danielle smiled now. "I like Bella. She's nice," she said. "We're gonna ride to school together tomorrow, too. I think it might become a permanent thing."

Lynne made a sound of joy. "That's wonderful! I was really hoping you two would become friends. I'm glad to hear that you're getting along." She paused to say something to someone on her and, then turned her attention back to their conversation. "What about the kids at school? Did you meet anyone nice?"

Danielle thought about Emmett Cullen, and about the group that Bella had introduced her to at lunch. "Yeah, I met a few people that seemed cool. The rest just kind of stared at me like I was a science experiment that went horribly wrong," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm sure that'll stop soon," Lynne reassured her, even as she laughed at Danielle's choice of words.

"I hope so," Danielle said.

Lynne just made a sound of sympathy. "So tell me," she said to change the subject, her tone a bit teasing now. "Were there any cute _boys_ that caught your attention?"

The face that instantly flashed through her mind was Jasper's. But when she remembered that she was angry with him, she quickly pushed the image away. "No, there weren't," she lied.

Lynne clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Well, you've only been there a day. I'm sure you'll find _one_ cute one eventually."

"Maybe," Danielle said unenthusiastically. "When are you gonna be home?" she asked to shift the conversation elsewhere.

"We've been pretty busy rearranging the store and getting everything in order over here," Lynne said. "I probably won't be home until after seven. But I stopped by the grocery store at lunch time and stocked the kitchen, so there's plenty for you to eat."

"Okay," Danielle said. "I'll make something for us to have for dinner. It'll be waiting for you when you get home."

Lynne made a sound of gratitude. "Thank you, sweetie, I appreciate it."

"No problem," Danielle said with a smile. Her making dinner for her mother was nothing out of the norm. With how many hours Lynne worked, Danielle often took it upon herself to make dinner for the two of them – considering everything Lynne had done for her over the years, coming home to a hot, homemade meal after a long day of work seemed like the least Danielle could do for her in return.

There was more muffled conversation on Lynne's end, which told Danielle she was talking to someone in the store again. "I should go now," her mother finally said. "But I'm glad you had a good first day and I'm glad you've made some friends. It'll only get better from here."

Danielle thought about Jasper again, and couldn't help but frown. She wanted to believe her mother was right, but if Jasper continued to be a total jerk to her, she wasn't so sure life at Forks High would be as easy as they both wanted it to be. "I hope so."

"Just think positive," Lynne said. "I'll see you in a few hours, okay?"

"Okay. Bye, Mom."

She ended the call, then tapped her phone against her hand. In a way, she felt a little guilty for not telling her mother about the incident with Jasper Hale, simply because she always told her mother _everything,_ be it good or bad. But she knew her mother, and knew she would flip if she found out that someone had hurt her in anyway. It seemed better to keep it under wraps for now. If anything got any worse, _then_ she'd tell Lynne what was going on.

Danielle sighed, shoved her phone into the pocket of her pants, then grabbed her backpack and headed upstairs to her bedroom. It would be a while yet until she needed to start dinner, and she didn't particularly want to spend the time until then fretting over Jasper, like she had done most of that day. She decided to delve into her homework and hope that it would be enough to keep her thoughts preoccupied. For tonight, she wanted to forget about what had happened at school, forget about the entire Cullen family, and try to have a good night with her mother in their new home.

She'd worry about Jasper Hale tomorrow, when it was time to go to school and face him again.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's!

_Chapter Two_

_Danielle was running through Forks High school, pushing and elbowing her way through throngs of students, her eyes wide with fear and her breath coming hard and fast. She looked behind her and saw a flash of golden hair, then let out a cry of fear. Turning forward again, Danielle ran even faster, all but barreling over people in her haste to escape. Her frightened gaze searched wildly for an exit, every instinct in her body telling her to get out of the school and run to the safety of her house. Her mother would be there to protect her, and Bella's father, the police chief who lived across the street, would surely keep away any harm that might come to her._

_Her eyes landed on an exit sign. There it was. Her salvation. Determined now, she sprinted for the double doors up ahead, feeling relief flood her more and more with each step that brought her closer to her escape._

_But then…there he was. Jasper. Standing up ahead, planting himself between her and the doors. Danielle skidded to a halt, practically hyperventilating by now, unsure what to do. He was glaring at her and clenching his fists, his whole body tense as he waited for her to make a move. She couldn't go past him – she would never make it. Glancing behind her, she saw that that path wasn't ideal either. There were too many students in the way, none of which seemed to notice her state of panic, none of which seemed to care that Jasper appeared to be hunting her. If she tried to run that way, she'd get caught in the crowd. Then Jasper would catch her._

_Danielle looked at Jasper again and gulped when she saw him grinding his teeth, his eyes as black as midnight as he watched her every move. Finally, in a moment derived either from stupidity or desperation – she wasn't sure which – she turned on her heel to run back the way she had come. But before she could even make it two steps, a hand with impossible strength closed around her arm, pulling her to a halt._

_Danielle cried out, and then the world spun as Jasper whipped her around to face him. She trembled with fear as she met his darkened gaze, feeling as though she could feel every ounce of his loathing washing over her skin. "Please!" she cried, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. "Please don't hurt me!"_

_Jasper said nothing in response, just scowled even further, his handsome face distorting with pure hatred. Then, with a vicious growl, he picked her up and threw her through the air. Danielle sailed across the hall until she crashed into the locker with a loud BANG. Then she fell to the ground, pain resonating from every inch of her body as she lay whimpering on the floor. And all Jasper did was stare at her, his eyes black, his expression showing no remorse, before he came rushing at her again._

Danielle jerked awake, breathing hard and feeling sweaty as she struggled to focus on her surroundings. It took a few seconds, but she finally remembered that she was at home, not at Forks High. She was in her bed and she was safe, and there was certainly no Jasper Hale around.

With a groan, Danielle rubbed her face, willing her heart to stop pounding so hard. _It was just a dream_ , she told herself. _It wasn't real._

When she finally calmed down, she dropped her hands from her face and stared up at the ceiling, noticing only then that there were some glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling, which had obviously been put there by a former inhabitant of this room. Sucking in a deep breath through her nose and releasing it slowly, she finally pushed away the covers and sat up, swinging her legs around so that her feet rested on the floor.

Danielle thought back to the dream she had had, then shook her head. As if fretting about Jasper all day hadn't been bad enough, now she was _dreaming_ about him, too? Even _she_ could admit that this was beginning to get out of hand. Jasper might be rude, maybe even a little _deranged_ , but nothing about that dream was even remotely possible. He was not _hunting_ her, and he certainly wasn't strong enough to throw her like a ragdoll.

Still, whether it was possible or nor, the dream _had_ scared her. Even now, she still felt a prickle of unease in her spine as she thought about the way Jasper had looked. The expression on his face in the dream hadn't been all that different from the way he had looked when he'd grabbed her outside their English class, and as she thought about facing him again in just a few hours and possibly seeing that same, frightening look on his face, she couldn't suppress a small shiver of fear.

 _Get ahold of yourself, woman,_ she chastised herself, running a hand through her hair. _It was just a dream. That would never happen in real life._

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Sweetie, are you awake?" Lynne asked through the door. She hadn't gone to work yet, and as silly as it might have sounded, just knowing her mother was in the house and that she wasn't alone immediately made her feel better.

"Yeah," Danielle called back. "I'm about to start getting ready for school.

"Okay. I'll start getting breakfast together," Lynne responded.

As she heard her mother's footsteps disappear down to the first floor, Danielle firmly pushed thoughts of Jasper aside and started getting ready for school. She went to her attached bathroom so she could brush her teeth and wash her face, then put on just a touch of makeup like she had done the day before. Her curls were wild and frizzy after tossing and turning all night, so she decided against even trying to fight them and quickly put her hair in a messy knot on the top of her head.

Danielle stepped back into her bedroom and went to the closet to find something to wear. Knowing it would be cold outside, she quickly decided on a long sleeved shirt and jeans, then grabbed some boots from the bottom of her closet to top off the ensemble.

She pulled off the shirt she had slept in, then paused and frowned, her eyes turning down to her arms. There were bruises on her skin, dark blue marks in the exact places where Jasper's fingertips had dug into her arms the day before. She had noticed them when she had changed for bed the previous night, and just as she had done when she had first spotted then, she cringed as she gently ran a fingertip over the marks on one of her arms. Normally she wasn't one to bruise easy, so the fact that he had left such noticeable marks on her was the proof of just how hard he had been gripping her.

Sighing, Danielle finished changing, feeling better when her long sleeved shirt completely concealed the bruises. She already knew she was going to wear long-sleeved shirts until they had faded some. She didn't want anyone to see the marks, nor did she particularly want to see them herself.

When she finally went downstairs, her mother was waiting for her with a smile and a plate of bacon and eggs. "Morning," Lynne greeted, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Here you go," she then said, passing her the plate.

"Thanks," she said, before taking a seat at the table. "I'm surprised you're still home," she said, watching as her mother went to the fridge to retrieve a carton of orange juice.

"I felt bad, not being here yesterday to see you off to school," Lynne said as she poured two glass of orange juice and joined her at the table. She set one of the glasses in front of Danielle and kept the other for herself. "I thought I'd go into work just a little bit later so I could be here when you leave. Besides, I'd like to meet Bella," she added. "I'd also like to thank her for taking you to school."

Danielle just nodded her understanding.

"What do you have planned for the weekend?" Lynne asked conversationally as she dug into her own breakfast.

Danielle shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it, to be honest," she admitted. "But I guess it'd be nice to go out and explore a bit. Maybe I'll see if Bella wants to go check out the town or something," she mused aloud.

Lynne smiled approvingly. "I think that's a great idea. If you're gonna live here, you might as well get to know the town, right? And a little bonding time with Bella certainly won't hurt," she said with a nod. "What about Sunday?"

Danielle shrugged again. "Dunno. Why, did you have something in mind?"

"I was thinking maybe you could come help me around the shop," Lynne suggested. "We're short-staffed and there's still a lot of things that need to be done before I have it the way I want it. And I'd pay you to work, of course," she explained with a smile. "You interested?"

Danielle thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Sure, I'll come help," she agreed. "But you don't have to pay me," she told her mother pointedly. "Just agree to let me borrow the car sometime and we're even," she bartered.

Lynne took a moment to consider the offer, then nodded. "Deal," she said, sticking a hand in Danielle's direction so they could shake on it.

Danielle grinned, shook her mother's hand, then went back to her breakfast.

About ten minutes later, just as Danielle and Lynne were finishing up their meals, a knock on the door signaled Bella's arrival. Lynne went to answer the door while Danielle quickly put their now empty plates in the sink. After washing her hands, she went to grab her jacket and her backpack before heading toward the door.

"It really is just so nice of you to take Dani to school," Lynne was saying as Danielle walked up behind her, still in the process of shrugging on her jacket. "It's nice to know we've got some friendly neighbors around here."

Bella blushed and smiled shyly. "It's really no problem. I'm just glad to have someone _normal_ to hang out with," she added with a small laugh.

"Dani? _Normal_?" Lynne asked with exaggerated skepticism. "Are we still talking about the same girl?" she added, feigning confusion.

Bella laughed again, while Danielle just rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Mom. You're so sweet," she said with sarcasm. While Lynne laughed and patted her back, Danielle raised her brows at Bella. "Ready to go?"

Bella nodded. "Ready when you are."

Danielle pulled on her backpack and turned to her mother. "Will you be home at the same time tonight?"

"Probably," she said with a nod. "I'll let you know if anything changes, though."

"Okay." Danielle then pulled her mother into a hug, which Lynne happily returned. "I'll see you later."

"Yep, see you later," Lynne said, squeezing her tight. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Danielle said in return.

They parted ways after that and Danielle stepped out onto the porch to join Bella. "It was nice to meet you, Bella," Lynne said, giving her a big smile. "How about you and your father come over for dinner sometime soon? We'd love to have the both of you," she invited.

"It was nice to meet you, too, Ms. Clark," Bella said politely. "And that sounds nice. I'll be sure to talk to him about it."

"Wonderful," Lynne said, looking pleased. "You girls have a great day at school," she said.

"We'll try," Danielle said with a smirk. "Bye, Mom."

They finally turned and headed across the street toward Bella's truck. Bella glanced back at Lynne, who was watching them go, before smiling at Danielle. "I like your mom," she said. "She seems really nice."

Danielle smiled proudly and nodded. "Yeah, she's one of a kind."

Just like the day before, they both threw their backpacks into the bed of Bella's truck before climbing into the cab. As the engine started with a loud roar, the knowledge that she'd soon be back at Forks High and facing Jasper Hale again made her stomach fill with nervous butterflies. _It'll be okay,_ she told herself encouragingly. _You've got this._

Bella finally put the truck in drive, then, with one last wave to Danielle's mother, they were off.

* * *

When Danielle walked into her Calculus class about twenty minutes later, it was with her head held high and shoulders squared. She was determined not to let Jasper see the way he had affected her, determined to show him that she was not someone he could walk all over. Despite the fact that, deep down, she actually _was_ afraid of him, she refused to look weak in front of him again. And if he came anywhere near her, she _definitely_ had some words for him.

But as her eyes immediately jumped to the seat that Jasper had occupied the day before, she stopped dead in her tracks.

The seat was empty. Jasper wasn't there.

She let out the breath she had been holding, feeling both relieved and a little annoyed at the same time. On the one hand, she was glad he wasn't there so that she didn't have to see or talk to him. On the other, she was irritated because she felt she deserved one damned good apology from him, and he couldn't very well apologize for acting like a Neanderthal if he wasn't _there,_ now could he?

Her eyes were suddenly drawn to the person sitting next to Jasper's empty desk, and with a start, she realized it was another Cullen. Rosalie was in their class too, only she'd been so distracted by Jasper the day before that she hadn't even noticed. When they locked eyes, the beautiful blonde scowled at Danielle with blatant dislike, not even bothering to attempt to act friendly. Danielle took that as her cue to hurry up and take her seat. She quickly pulled her gaze away from Rosalie's as she scampered to her own desk in the back of the room. She could feel Rosalie's eyes on her back the entire away.

Danielle sat down and quickly pulled out her book as the bell rang. _Awesome. That's two Cullen's that hate me now,_ she thought to herself when she chanced another look in Rosalie's direction and saw that the blonde was still glaring at her. _Way to go, Danielle. You're off to a great start,_ she added pessimistically.

With Jasper absent and her fear of seeing him instantly gone, the rest of class was uneventful. After her initial glaring, Rosalie eventually seemed to decide that Danielle wasn't worth her attention and began to ignore her, which Danielle couldn't say she minded. She focused on her school work, firmly ignoring Rosalie's presence, and hung on to every word her teacher said. Before she knew it, the bell was ringing and it was time to go to English.

Her next class was uneventful as well, and passed by pretty quickly. In what seemed like no time at all she was walking into her History class, which she had with Emmett Cullen. As she eased into the chair she'd sat in the day before, she glanced at Emmett's empty desk and frowned a bit, wondering if perhaps he was absent as well. Only a few moments later, however, Emmett came striding into the room. He sat down at his desk, his amber colored eyes flickering to her, and gave her a friendly smile when he noticed her watching him.

"Sup?" he asked with an upward nod of his head.

"Hey," Danielle said back.

She tapped the eraser of her pencil on the desk, her eyes narrowing just the slightest bit as she continued to look at Emmett. She wanted to ask about Jasper and find out why he wasn't at school, but she also didn't want Emmett to run home and tell him that she been asking about him. The last thing she wanted was for Jasper to think she was interested in him…and she supposed on some level she _was_ interested, but not in _that_ way.

"I couldn't help but notice your brother isn't here today," she finally said, unable to stop the words from tumbling past her lips.

Emmett quirked a brow. "Jasper wasn't feeling good this morning," he said evasively, one large, muscled shoulder shrugging upward.

Danielle eyes narrowed further. Emmett was lying, she could tell. "Well, I guess if _I_ was the jerk manhandling complete strangers for absolutely no reason I wouldn't wanna show my face around school, either," she commented.

Emmett gave her a sharp look. "Easy there, tiger," he said with just a hint of warning. "I know you're mad at him, but that's still my _brother_ you're talking about."

Danielle pressed her lips together, then let out a heavy sigh. As mad as she was, it wasn't like her to badmouth people, and especially not to their family members. "Sorry for being snarky," she apologized, "I just…haven't been able to stop thinking about what happened," she admitted. "I don't understand _why_ it happened, or what I did to piss him off so much."

"You didn't do anything," Emmett said quickly. "Like I said yesterday, Jasper was just having a bad day," he repeated.

"And I still don't believe you when you say that," Danielle countered. "The _second_ he laid eyes on me, he looked like he hated me. And when he grabbed me, he honestly looked like he wanted to _hurt_ me," she insisted. "I may not be the smartest person who ever lived, but I _am_ someone who listens to their gut instinct. And yesterday, before you showed up, those instincts were _screaming_ at me that something was seriously wrong. That something was _dangerous_ and that if I didn't get away, something _bad_ was going to happen to me."

Emmett was very quiet after that, neither his gaze, nor his expression, giving away whatever was going on inside his head. Finally he let out a massive sigh, his eyes turning elsewhere for a moment before jumping back to hers.

"Look, Danielle," he said, leaning closer and dropping his voice a bit. "I know you don't believe me, but what happened yesterday was a fluke. Jasper's not just my brother – he's my _friend_. And believe me when I say that _that_ is not what the real Jasper is like," he insisted, his expression serious. "You wanna know the _real_ reason he's not here today?" he then asked, raising his brows. "Because he _hates_ himself for how he treated you yesterday. We talked about it for a long time last night, and he could hardly even stand himself because of the way he acted. He feels horrible, Danielle. I've never seen him so guilty or ashamed," he said, shaking his head. "He didn't come here today because he knew he'd see you, and he just didn't have the guts to face you after what he did. Not yet, anyway."

Danielle felt some of her previous anger slip away. She supposed it was a good thing that Jasper knew he had been wrong and regretted what he had done – at least now she knew he wasn't some unstable psychopath who wanted to do her serious harm. But still…he should have sucked up his pride and come to school today to apologize for what he had done, not hide away from her and let his _brother_ do all the talking for him.

"So what's he gonna do then?" Danielle asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "Is he just gonna hide from me for the rest of the school year or something?"

"No. He wants to talk to you so that he can apologize and explain himself. He just didn't have the courage to do it today," he told her. "But he's going to talk to you soon and make this right," Emmett added with a firm nod. "That I can promise you."

Danielle considered what he had said, then slowly nodded her head. "Alright then."

The bell rang after that to signal the start of class, so she and Emmett ceased their conversation and turned their attention to the teacher as she began the lesson for the day. After class was over, she packed up her things and headed for the door, not overly surprised when she noticed that Emmett had hung back so that he could talk to her again between class periods.

"I'd walk you to your class again, but I've heard some rumors making the rounds after yesterday and I know a few people who wouldn't be happy if they heard we were getting too friendly," he told her, glancing around as though keeping an eye out for someone.

"I'm assuming you're talking about Rosalie, which would explain why she was giving me death glares this morning," Danielle commented, remembering what Jessica had said the day before about the two being a couple. "Tell your girlfriend not to worry. You're not my type," she added with a smirk.

Emmett quirked a brow, as if he was surprised that she knew he and Rosalie were together. "Wow. Didn't take you very long to start digging up all the dirt on us Cullen's, huh?" he said with a snort.

Danielle blushed a little. "I wasn't digging up dirt," she said defensively. "You said it yourself – this is a small school. Word travels fast."

"Uh huh," Emmett grunted, looking and sounding thoroughly unconvinced. He gave her another look, then shook his head. "Look, I just wanted to say that everything between you and Jasper is going to be okay," he told her, quickly changing the subject. "He's _going_ to make it right, and he's gonna do it soon. Until then, just…don't worry, okay?"

Danielle pursed her lips. "I'll stop worrying when he proves to me he's not someone I _need_ to worry about," she said firmly.

"Fair enough," Emmett said with a shrug. "See ya later, Danielle," he then told her.

"See ya."

Emmett left after that, and, once again, the crowds parted to make way for his huge frame as he went. Danielle watched his retreating back for a moment or two, then headed off for her next class

* * *

The rest of the school day turned out to be pretty boring. They had a substitute teacher for Spanish, so they ended up watching a movie instead of doing any work. Danielle spent most of that time talking quietly with Bella, since neither of them were really interested in the movie, and she took the opportunity to see if Bella was interested in exploring Forks with her the next day. She hadn't been sure whether Bella would want to hang out outside of school or not, but was pleasantly surprised when she said yes. They agreed to head out around noon and left it at that.

Lunchtime was spent with the same group as the day before, who all had plans to hang out at some nearby diner after school and invited both of them to join – according to Mike, it was tradition for the upperclassmen to go to the diner after school on Fridays to celebrate the end of the school week with food and milkshakes. Bella politely declined, claiming she already had plans - Danielle was pretty sure she lying through her teeth and just didn't want to go. Since Danielle didn't particularly want to get stuck hanging out with a bunch of people she barely knew, she made up an excuse of her own and declined the invitation as well. The group was disappointed at first and did not shy away from vocalizing it, but eventually they dropped it when Danielle and Bella, after sharing a meaningful look, promised they'd join them another time.

Gym was next, and this time the teacher made Danielle participate. Danielle, wearing her long sleeved shirt under her gym shirt so no one would see the bruises on her arms, played volleyball with the rest of the class and it actually went pretty well…that is, until, Bella spiked the ball and it hit her square in the back of the head. Bella apologized profusely, looking mortified as she rushed over to make sure Danielle was okay. After assuring her she was fine and joking that she would just dock off some of the gas money she owed to make up for it, Bella went back into her position and the game resumed. Everyone decided to try to keep the ball away from Bella after that, though, and the rest of class passed without any more accidents.

When school was over, Danielle and Bella climbed into Bella's loud truck and headed home. They chatted about their plans for the next day, making sure to keep their eyes open as they drove to look for any places that might be interesting to check out. After they had parking in front of Bella's house again, they grabbed their backpacks from the bed and said their goodbyes. The rest of the day passed quickly enough - Danielle finished all her homework so that she wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the weekend, then cooked dinner again so there would be a hot meal waiting for her mother when she got off of work. After Lynne came home, they had dinner and cleaned the kitchen, then decided to have themselves a little movie night. The picked out their favorite romantic comedies, grabbed some popcorn and ice cream, and settled in the living room to watch their movies. They finally went to bed when they couldn't hold their eyes open anymore.

Danielle slept in the next morning, not waking until it was nearly eleven in the morning. Because she had woken so late, she was not at all surprised by the fact that Lynne had already left for work. She _was_ surprised, however, to find a note with a hundred dollar bill attached to it.

_Dani –_

_I know this move hasn't been easy, but I'm glad you seem to be adjusting well so far and that you're making an effort to get to know the place a little better. Here's some money for your outing with Bella today. Spend it on whatever you want – my treat! I'll see you later! Love you!_

_Love, Mom xoxo_

Danielle grabbed the money with raised brows, then grinned and nodded her head. Her mother was never usually this generous when it came to giving her money to do stuff. This was certainly a pleasant surprise. "Thank you, Mom," she said aloud to herself, before going to her bag to put the money in her wallet.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, Danielle waited until the clock struck noon before heading out to meet with Bella. She stepped outside and locked her door, then went across the street to knock on Bella's door when she saw that her new friend was not outside yet. Danielle walked up the driveway, eyeing the police car that belonged to Bella's father along the way, then finally stepped up to the front door and knocked twice.

The door opened to reveal a tall man with dark hair and a mustache. He had a stern look to him, his brows furrowed together seriously as he gazed at Danielle. He glanced around at her feet for a moment, as if looking to see if she was someone who was coming around to try to sell him something, then raised his eyes back to hers.

"Can I help you?" he asked politely enough.

Danielle shifted under his intimidating gaze, understanding very quickly why he had been picked to be the police chief. He looked like he wouldn't have any problems putting criminals in their place. "Hi," she said, clearing her throat. "I'm Danielle Clark. I just moved in across the street?" she said, motioning toward her house.

The expression on his face eased as his eyes lit with recognition. "Oh yeah. Of course. You're Lynne's girl." Danielle nodded in confirmation. "Charlie Swan," he said, offering her a hand as he introduced himself.

Danielle quickly shook his hand, trying not to wince when he gripped her hand a little too hard. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Charlie said in response.

When Charlie released her hand, she shoved her hands into her pockets. "Is Bella around? She and I had plans to hang out," she said, glancing behind him into the depths of the house to see if Bella was anywhere nearby. She didn't see her anywhere, though.

"Yeah, she's upstairs. I think she's on the phone with her mother," Charlie said. He stepped to the side and motioned for her to come in. "Why don't you come in and make yourself comfortable in the living room while I grab her?" he suggested.

Danielle nodded. "Sure. Thanks."

She stepped into the Swan house, which wasn't much bigger than her own home. While Charlie headed upstairs, Danielle slowly made her way into the living room, observing the old looking furniture and the few decorations placed sporadically around the room. It was glaringly obvious as she looked around that until Bella had come back around, there hadn't been a female living in this house in quite some time. Everything about the place, from the sports memorabilia scattered here or there, to the hunting magazines on the coffee table, to the lack of anything even _remotely_ feminine, basically screamed _BACHELOR PAD._

The sound of two pairs of feet coming down the stairs caught Danielle's attention a short while later. She turned and saw Bella first, followed quickly by her father. "Hey," Bella said with a friendly smile. "Sorry about the wait," she apologized. "When my mom gets to talking, it's hard to get her to stop."

"No worries," Danielle said, waving off the apology. "You ready to go?" she asked.

"Yep." Bella turned to her father, who had his arms crossed over his chest. "We're gonna head out for a bit and explore Forks," she told him. "I'll probably be back in a few hours, maybe more."

Charlie nodded his understanding. If Danielle wasn't mistaken, he seemed a little pleased to hear that his daughter was getting out of the house and making an effort to hang out with someone. "Alright. Do you need money?" he offered, already reaching for his wallet.

"Uh, sure," Bella said with a nod, looking surprised that Charlie was offering. "Thanks."

Charlie fished some bills from his wallet, then handed them to Bella. "Keep your phone on," he said. "Call me if you need anything."

Bella nodded, took the money, and stuffed it into her pocket. "Okay," she said. She then looked at Danielle. "Let's go."

Danielle nodded and followed her to the front door, offering a quick smile to Charlie as they walked past him. "It was nice to meet you, Chief Swan," she said politely.

"You too, Danielle," he said with a nod and a close-lipped smile. "And be sure to tell your mother that I'd be happy to take her up on her offer to have Bella and I over for dinner. A nice, home-cooked meal sounds like a God-send," he added, following them toward the door. "Why don't we try for next weekend?"

Danielle nodded. "Sure. I'll pass the message along."

Charlie nodded, but didn't say anything more.

They said their goodbye's to Bella's father and headed out, shivering against the cold wind as they hurried to Bella's truck. Soon enough they were pulling away from Bella's house and driving toward the heart of Forks, listening to music and chatting about what they had done the night before. She found out that Bella had pretty much done the same thing that she had – she'd done her homework, had dinner with her father, then hung out in her room.

"So when you told Mike and the gang you had plans, really you were just trying to get out of having to go to that diner," Danielle said as they drove along, her lips pulling into a knowing smirk. It was what she had suspected the day before, but now it was confirmed.

Bella smiled sheepishly. "Don't get me wrong, I think they're nice and all," she said quickly. "It's just…the thought of being packed into that diner with a bunch of people that would just stare and point sounded like torture," she admitted.

"I know what you mean," Danielle said with a small smile. "That's why _I_ didn't go," she confessed. Bella nodded, her expression hinting that she had already suspected that. Danielle looked at her for a moment, then turned her eyes to the window. "Mike likes you, you know," she commented casually, eyeing a few people that were biking along the side of the road. "I can tell."

Bella was blushing when Danielle glanced over at her. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't," she said with a shrug, her tone evasive. Danielle didn't think there were any _maybe's_ when it came to Mike's feelings toward Bella, but didn't bother trying to correct her. "Either way, he's, uh…not really my type," she said, shaking her head. "He's nice, but…"

Bella trailed off after that and didn't finish her sentence, but Danielle didn't need her to in order to get the point she was trying to make. Danielle nodded her understanding, then turned her gaze back to the window.

Their first stop was at a little antique store that they had driven past the day before. They parked the truck and went into the shop, stopping to briefly talk with the old lady who owned the place before taking a look around the store. They pointed out a number of cool things to each other and ' _ooh_ 'ed and ' _ahh_ 'ed over old, sparkly costume jewelry, but in the end, neither of them purchased anything. They only had so much money on them, and they wanted to wait until they found something good to spend it on.

The next shop they went into was a small clothing store, and Danielle actually did end up spending some money there. With how much colder it was in Forks compared to Houston, she felt like her wardrobe was in no way equipped to combat the cold. She purchased a few sweaters, a couple scarves, and several pairs of thick, warm socks, hoping it would be enough to keep her warm against the unforgivably cold winter weather outside. She put on one of the scarves before leaving the shop, then immediately celebrated her purchase when she stepped outside and felt how much more protected her neck was from the chilly wind.

They went into a few more places that seemed interesting, until Danielle's stomach began to rumble hungrily. She hadn't had time to eat breakfast, and between all the roaming around and shopping they were doing, she had worked up quite an appetite. They ended popping into a diner that Bella said she and her dad went to quite a bit. Danielle strongly suspected this was the diner that Mike and the lunch gang had wanted them to hang out at the afternoon before.

The hostess showed Danielle and Bella to a table by the window, and after ordering cokes and burgers, they settled in and started chatting about whatever came to mind. When their food was delivered, Danielle immediately dug into her burger, sighing contentedly once she had some food in her belly.

"This is a good burger," she commented, before taking a drink of her coke.

"Yeah, the food's not bad," Bella said with a nod. "That's probably why we come here all the time," she added with a smirk and a shrug. "Well, that and my dad couldn't cook to save his life."

Danielle laughed, then took another bite of food. She noticed that Bella kept watching her in the moments that followed, though, her brows creased with thought and her teeth gnawing periodically at her bottom lip. She seemed to have something on her mind, something she was contemplating saying. Finally, after one more moment of hesitation, she seemed to decided to just come out with it.

"Danielle? Can I ask you something?" Bella asked, tilting her head a bit.

Danielle swallowed her food and raised her brows. "You just did," she joked.

Bella offered a brief smile, but then frowned with uncertainty again. "I've been wanting to ask you about something for a few days now, only I wasn't really sure how to bring it up," she told her, fiddling with her one of her utensils.

Danielle realized this was something serious and stopped eating. "What is it?" she asked, her previous joking tone replaced with uncertainty as her mind began jumping to conclusions. Had she upset Bella at some point in the past few days? Had she done something to offend her? She really hoped not.

Bella hesitated, then leaned forward. "The other day, you told me you thought Jasper Hale was a jerk," she said, which caught Danielle completely by surprise. "When I asked why, you said it was a weird story and that you didn't wanna talk about it. Then Jessica said someone had seen the two of you together, and that whatever was happening looked intense." Bella paused, her brows furrowing together again. "So…what happened between the two of you?" she asked intently. "Was it… _bad?"_

Danielle wasn't sure how to answer at first. She hadn't planned to tell anyone what had happened between her and Jasper unless she absolutely _had_ to, and that was for two reasons – one, she didn't want to accidently start spreading rumors, and, two, it had been so weird that she just wasn't sure if anyone would understand or even _believe_ her. But now Bella was asking her what had happened and looking almost _desperate_ to know. Why did she want to know? Could she trust Bella? Would Bella understand? Or would she just end up thinking she was crazy?

Danielle sighed, then finally decided to just go for it and see what happened. "Well, it wasn't exactly _good_ ," she admitted. "Jasper is in my first two classes, and right from the beginning, right from when we first saw each other, he was just so… _strange,"_ she began to explain. "During both classes he just _stared_ at me. It wasn't the same kind of staring that I was getting from the other kids at school, though," she quickly clarified. "He had the most intense expression on his face. It was almost like he wanted to _do_ something to me and was trying to determine the best way to do it."

Bella's mouth fell open with shock. "What did he do?" she asked. "Did he…" She paused to glance around, as if checking to make sure no one was listening. "Did he _hurt_ you?"

Danielle thought back to what had happened, and goosebumps raised on her skin. "Well, I was leaving the second class that I had with him when I realized that I had forgotten something. I turned to go back into the class and ran right smack into him," she explained. "Jasper grabbed me, and he wouldn't let me go. His hands were so tight and he looked so angry and _frightening_ …I seriously thought he was going to try to do something to me," she admitted. "I tried to pull away, but he only held me tighter. He was trying to keep me from going anywhere."

Bella was shaking her head in disbelief. "How did you get away?"

"Emmett showed up and intervened," Danielle told her. "If he hadn't been there, I honestly don't know what would have happened." Danielle sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. "It scared the hell out of me, Bella," she admitted. "That's the most scared I've ever been in a _long_ time."

Bella leaned back in her seat, her expression one of shock, while Danielle glanced around, unable to meet her gaze now. When a few more moments passed and Bella still didn't say anything, Danielle began to feel uncomfortable and wonder if maybe she had said too much. Did Bella think she was overreacting to this? Did she think she was jumping to conclusions about Jasper's intentions? After all, why would a guy in their high school want to hurt her for no good reason?

"Maybe it's not as bad as I'm making it out to seem," Danielle finally said, hoping to salvage the situation before Bella labelled her off a nutcase. "Maybe I overreacted, or maybe – "

Bella shook her head quickly though, making Danielle fall silent. "No, I don't think you're overreacting at all," she insisted. "He shouldn't have done that. I understand why you'd be scared."

Danielle breathed easier, feeling relieved to know that Bella was on her side.

Bella hesitated for a few moments, her fingers idly twiddling with her napkin. "The same thing happened to me," she quietly revealed, which made Danielle's eyes go wide. "Well, not the _exact_ same thing, but something similar," she added quickly. "I mean…Edward, when I met him –"

Danielle's brows shot in surprise. "Edward? Jasper's brother?" she asked, which made Bella nod in confirmation. "I thought you got a bit tense when Jessica mentioned Edward the other day, but I wasn't sure," she said, thinking back to Bella's reaction at lunch that first day of school. "What happened with him?" Danielle asked, wanting to know what was going on.

Bella sucked in a breath, then started talking. "Edward is in my Biology class. I saw him at lunch on Monday, which was my first day of school, but I didn't talk to him or anything. After lunch I went to Biology and he was there. The moment I walked in and he caught sight of me, he just started acting so strange. So… _hostile_ ," Bella admitted.

"Hostile?" Danielle asked, feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach. So it wasn't just Jasper that had a nasty streak to him? It was him _and_ his brother? "How so?"

Bella gestured with her hands for a moment, as if struggling to find the right words to describe what had happened. "It was just like you and Jasper. He looked at me with such… _hatred_. Like he wanted to _hurt_ me. And his eyes…" She trailed off, her expression hinting that she wasn't sure if she should continue on or not.

Danielle had a feeling she knew exactly what Edward's eyes had looked like. "Were they black?" she asked knowingly. Bella seemed surprised at first, then nodded, which made Danielle sigh. "So were Jasper's," she told her.

Bella gnawed on her lip unsurely. "Are you sure? It wasn't just a trick of the lighting or something?" she asked, sounding almost like she hoped Danielle _had_ been mistaken.

Danielle thought about it, then shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I mean, they couldn't have _really_ been black, right?" she asked with doubt. "It's not possible. Maybe it _was_ just a trick of the lighting."

Bella didn't say anything, just nodded slowly. She looked like she wasn't sure which option to believe, that Jasper and Edward had impossible eye colors, or that maybe she and Danielle had both been so caught off guard and so swept up in fear that they hadn't been thinking straight.

Danielle shook her head to clear her thoughts. "What happened with Edward after that?" she asked next.

"Well, after class I found him in the counselor's office. He was trying to switch out of biology, but he couldn't. That made him mad," Bella said with a frown. Then she shrugged. "I didn't see him for the rest of the day, and when I came to school the next day, he wasn't there. He's been gone ever since."

They fell silent for a long few minutes after that, each lost in their own thoughts as they mulled over the conversation they'd just had. What could it all mean? Why were both Jasper _and_ Edward behaving so peculiarly? And why did they seem to have it out for her and Bella? Danielle shook her head, feeling completely lost. She didn't know what to think about all of this, and if the expression on Bella's face was anything to judge by, she didn't know what to make of it either. It was all so confusing and it all seemed so… _strange_.

They stopped talking about the Cullen's after that. In fact, they pretty much stopped talking altogether. After a conversation like that, neither of them seemed to know what to talk about. Danielle had to wonder why Bella had brought it up, then decided that maybe she had just been wanting to compare the two encounters in the hope that it would help her understand her own encounter with Edward. _Whole lot of good **that** did,_ Danielle thought herself. Knowing Bella had had a similar experience with Edward had only confused her further. And she was sure Bella felt the same.

Finally, when they finished their meals, they paid the waitress and then headed for the truck. Bella asked Danielle if there were any more places she wanted to see, but Danielle, feeling in a bit of a funk now, declined. Bella seemed relieved. They drove home, listening to music and making small talk, carefully avoiding the subject of the Cullen's. Once they had parked in front of Bella's house again, they said a quick, slightly awkward goodbye, then went their separate ways.

* * *

Just before eleven the next morning, Danielle went to work with her mother. They drove the same route that she and Bella had taken the day before when they'd gone exploring, making their way into the heart of Forks, until they eventually parked in front of a small shop entitled _Much Ado About Books_. Danielle paused to study the building, admiring the displays and cute decorations in the windows, before following her mother inside. They spent the hour before opening moving things in the backroom around and reorganizing certain areas of the store. An employee named Patricia showed up just before noon, then, as the clock struck twelve, they opened for the day.

She really hadn't known what to expect in terms of how busy it might get, but was pleasantly surprised when a steady flow of customers came in over the course of the next few hours. Danielle let Lynne and Patricia deal with any customers who needed help, choosing instead to keep herself busy by organizing books, cleaning various shelves, and tending to any displays that might've gotten out of order. After a quick, crash-course lesson of how to run the register, she eventually took up position behind the checkout counter and helped ring up customers.

"I'll tell you what," Danielle said around four that afternoon, when there was a lull in customers and they had a bit of downtime. Patricia had gone on a break, leaving just Danielle and her mother to run the store. "This place is way busier than I thought it would be."

Lynne, who was putting back some children's books that had gotten moved around earlier, nodded and smiled. "The lady who used to own this place said that it was always pretty busy," she told her. "It's been around for so long that's it become a bit of a cornerstone around these parts. Kind of a home away from home for a lot of people in town."

Danielle quirked a brow. "I didn't think a bookstore would be that important," she said, not really seeing the appeal. She loved to read and she had plenty of books at home, but the places in which she purchased those books had never meant anything to her. Why would the people of Forks be so attached to this store? What made it so special?

Lynne shrugged. "The previous owner was very involved with the community. She always held fundraisers and book-drives, and there was always something going on here. Saturday morning read along's for kids, book club meetings for adults, so on and so forth," she explained. "She really wanted to make sure that the community felt welcome and taken care of here. The people loved her for it."

"I take it you're gonna try to carry on the tradition?" Danielle said, moving toward a kid's table to straighten up some of the chairs.

Lynne smiled broadly and nodded. "Absolutely," she said without hesitation. "Knowing how special this store is to the people of Forks makes me want to work extra hard to keep it the way everyone loves it. And you know what they say," she added with a smirk, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it."

Danielle just smiled and nodded her understanding. As unsure as she had been of this whole situation, it was easy to see now how happy her mother was here. She was positively glowing as she moved about the store, a look of pride in her eyes as she surveyed her shop. Living in Forks, running the shop, being involved in the community…Lynne was thriving and seemed happier than Danielle could ever remember her being. It was enough to make Danielle think that maybe coming to Forks _hadn't_ been a mistake, after all.

"Here," she said, moving to Lynne's side when she noticed her mother picking up a stack of books. "Let me."

"Thanks," Lynne said, nodding gratefully. "Could you carry them to the counter for me?"

Danielle nodded, picked up the books, then carried them to the counter while Lynne moved on to another section to straighten the books there. She had just set the books down by the cash register when the door to the shop opened, making the bell attached to it jingle loudly. Danielle turned to see who had arrived, a smile still playing on her lips as she thought about how happy she was for her mother.

But as she caught sight of the person who had just stepped inside, her smile fell and her heart jumped in her chest.

There was a tall guy with blonde hair standing just inside the doorway, his posture stiff and his expression guarded. It was Jasper Hale, and though he looked uncomfortable, perhaps even a bit _frightened_ to be in the same room as her, there was no denying that he looked just as handsome as he had looked the first time she had seen him. Danielle gulped as their eyes held, only barely noticing when the large, dark-haired Emmett walked into the store next. Her eyes briefly moved to him and he gave a small wave, before moving past Jasper to go inspect some books on the nearest shelf. Danielle saw him not-so-discreetly nudge Jasper along the way.

Danielle looked at Jasper again, who was staring back at her with uncertainty, as if he wasn't sure what he should do next. The clearing of a throat made her pull her eyes from his to glance at her mother, who was looking back and forth between Jasper and Danielle with curiosity. Lynne jerked her head toward Jasper, silently telling Danielle that she should go talk to him. Danielle's heart jumped in her chest again, but finally, after discreetly wiping her now clammy hands against the fabric of her jeans, she made her way over to Jasper.

The memories of the first day she'd seen Jasper replayed in her mind as she slowly stepped closer to him. It made her feel nervous and more than a little wary. What if something set him off again? What if he got angry with her again? But as she finally came to a halt a safe distance away from him, she could tell in an instant that the Jasper standing in front of her now was not the same Jasper she had interacted with that day at school. He didn't seem comfortable or relaxed in any way, shape, or form, but he didn't look angry or predatory either, like he had when he had grabbed her.

Danielle still crossed her arms tightly over her chest, as if trying to shield herself. She shifted on her feet as his eyes gazed at her intently, studying every inch of her face. It didn't escape her notice that his eyes were a pretty amber color now. They weren't black, like she had thought they were that first day. Maybe she _had_ just been seeing things, or maybe it _had_ just been a trick of the lighting.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her tone guarded and lacking friendliness.

Jasper blinked, then cleared his throat. "I was hoping we could talk," he said gently. Her heart instantly began to beat faster, a pleasant warmth unexpectedly filling her chest. It was the first time he had actually spoken to her, and the sound of his deep, smooth voice was more pleasing to the ear than she cared to admit. "Assuming you're not too busy, of course," he added, giving her the option to turn him away if she wanted.

She had gotten so caught up in the sound of his voice that she had momentarily zoned out. Danielle blinked herself back to the present, blushing a bit at her own reaction. "Uhm...alright," she agreed.

He started to speak again, but paused and glanced to the right, where he saw that her mother was watching them like a hawk. Danielle looked that way as well and started to ask her mother to maybe go find something else to do while she spoke to Jasper. Before she could, however, Emmett came to the rescue by asking Lynne to help him locate a certain book. Once the two had disappeared between some shelves, Danielle and Jasper looked at each other again.

Jasper took a steadying breath, then stood a bit straighter, his shoulders squaring. "I came here today because I wanted to apologize for my behavior at school on Thursday," he told her. "I was completely out of line, and I am truly sorry if I hurt _or_ frightened you."

Without really thinking about what she was doing, Danielle hands slid to the spots on her arms where he had grabbed her, which were still covered in bruises. The sleeves of the t-shirt she wore were just barely long enough to cover the bruises Jasper's fingers had left behind, and she knew that if Jasper caught site of them, he'd know immediately where they had come from. She didn't want him to see them.

"You're right. You _were_ out of line," Danielle said, which had him looking down to his feet with what seemed like shame. "What even happened that day, Jasper?" she asked, her brows furrowing together. His eyes lifted back to hers at the question and she thought she saw something flash through his eyes when she said his name, but she wasn't sure what that something was. "Did I do something _wrong_?"

"No," Jasper told her immediately. "It wasn't anything you did, I swear it," he insisted. "I was…having a hard day that day," he then said, his expression a bit pinched. "I was struggling with my own problems and feeling very…unlike myself. When you ran into me and when I… _grabbed you_ …I wasn't thinking clearly." Jasper sighed and shook his head, his lips frowning now. "It isn't much of an excuse. Speaking honestly, there isn't an excuse in the world that could justify how I acted toward you," he said. "Where I come from, putting your hands on a woman is one of the worst things a man can do. It's cowardly and disrespectful and just… _wrong_. I don't expect you to forgive me – if you ask me, I don't even think I _deserve_ your forgiveness," Jasper went on to admit. "But I wanted to apologize anyway and tell you how absolutely horrible I feel about what happened. In time, I hope I can prove to you that I'm not the monster you met that day."

Danielle blinked as she stared into Jasper's remorseful eyes. There was a part of her that agreed with him when he said that he didn't deserve her forgiveness – her mother had always told her to stay away from men who hurt women, because any man who hurt a woman once could, and _would_ , do it again. Jasper had scared her, had _hurt_ her, and as far as this stubborn side of her was concerned, he didn't deserve the time of day, let alone her forgiveness.

Yet, at the same time, there was no denying that Jasper honestly and truly felt horrible for what had happened. She liked to think that she was pretty good at being able to read people, and as she considered everything he said and looked deep into his eyes, there was no deceit present anywhere. She knew that the words he had spoken had been nothing but sincere and truthful. He was genuinely sorry for what had happened, and he wanted to make things right between them.

As scared as she had been of him, as doubtful of him as she had felt in the days following that incident, Danielle suddenly found herself wanting to give him a second chance. People made mistakes all the time, right? Was it fair of her to judge him for one momentary lapse in judgement? Didn't he at least deserve the chance to prove that he was better than the guy who had grabbed her outside that classroom?

Danielle made up her mind fairly quickly. Jasper had put himself out there to apologize, had come to beg her forgiveness even though he himself didn't even think he deserved it – the least she could do was give him another chance to show her who the _real_ Jasper Hale was.

"Well, I agree with you on one thing - you probably _don't_ deserve my forgiveness," she finally said. Jasper instantly looked disappointed, though not necessarily surprised to hear her say it. "But I'm gonna give it you anyway," Danielle added after a moment, which made Jasper's eyes brighten with hope again. She tried to ignore the way her heart thumped in response. "I don't like what happened. Not one bit. But the fact that you came here today and took a chance by explaining yourself and apologizing…that took guts, and it means a lot," she said with a nod. "So...I forgive you, Jasper."

He flashed a small smile and nodded, looking relieved. "Thank you, Danielle."

Danielle nodded, then moved one hand to point at him. "But don't _ever_ do anything like that again," she added warningly. "Because if you do, I swear I'll make you regret it," she threatened. "I'm not above kicking you where the sun doesn't shine."

Jasper smirked, and for a second she thought he might actually laugh. "Well, you don't have to worry. Because nothing like that will _ever_ happen again. That's my promise to you, and I don't break the promises I make," he said with a firm nod.

"Alright, then," Danielle said with a note of finality. They stood there for a moment, just looking at one another, the air around them far less tense than it had been seconds before. Finally, Danielle took a step closer to Jasper. "Why don't we start over," she suggested, giving him a friendly smile now. "I'm Danielle," she introduced, sticking a hand in his direction.

Jasper looked at her hand for a moment, as if he wasn't sure if he should take it or not, until he finally, _cautiously_ grabbed her hand. Danielle pressed her lips together to keep from gasping aloud as an electric shock shot up her arm. His hand was cold, but fit nicely around her own. "I'm Jasper," he said, and there was a different note to his voice now that she couldn't put her finger on. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you, too," she said, having to clear her throat to do so.

Jasper released her hand, then quickly shoved both of his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He glanced around the shop, then looked down at her. "While I'm here, I might as well see if there's any good books to take with me," he said, his tone calm and even now. "What sort of books do you have?"

Danielle shrugged. "All kinds," she answered. "What interests you the most?"

"I'm a fan of history," Jasper answered. "And I tend to prefer non-fiction over fiction books."

Danielle nodded her understanding. "Alright." She turned to glance around, scanning the markers at the top of the aisles that designated the type of books in each section. When she spotted the non-fiction section, she turned back to Jasper. "Follow me," she said, motioning him along with a wave of her hand.

They started off for the non-fiction section, Danielle in the lead while Jasper trailed a few steps behind. Once they were making their way between shelves, she turned back to face Jasper, walking backwards now. "What about history interests you most? Do you like books about Vikings? Ancient Egypt? World explorers? Or are interested in something a little more modern?"

"I've always been very into the Civil War," Jasper told her with a small smile.

Danielle nodded, but frowned a bit as she eyed the shelves. "I don't know if I've seen anything about the Civil War here, but we can have a look around," she told him.

"Alright," Jasper said.

They stopped and began to slowly search the shelves for anything that fit the description of what Jasper was interested in. They stood side by side, but they didn't talk to one another. Instead, Danielle would glance at him out of the corner of her eye every few seconds, while Jasper seemed to be doing the same thing. Finally, when the silence was too much for her to handle, she cleared her throat.

"So where are you from?" Danielle asked conversationally. Jasper looked at her questioningly. "Earlier you said, _'where I come from'_ ," she reminded him. "So I'm curious…where are you from?" she asked again.

Jasper hesitated before answering. "I was born in Houston, actually," he revealed, which made her brows shoot up in surprise. "I lived there when I was younger, then left when my adoptive parents took me in," he told her.

"Wow," Danielle said, amazed by the coincidence that they were from the same place. "Emmett said he knew someone from Texas, but he didn't say it was _you._ What a small world," she commented, shaking her head. When Jasper seemed confused as to why she was saying that, Danielle explained herself. "That's where my mom and I are from. Houston," she told him with a smile.

Jasper seemed surprised too. "I had heard you were from Texas, but I didn't know you were from Houston," he said. He then smiled a bit. "I guess this _is_ a small world we live in," he agreed. Danielle smiled and nodded, then turned her eyes back to the shelves of books to continue her search. "Do you miss it?" Jasper asked, drawing her attention back to him. "Do you miss Houston, that is," he clarified.

Danielle sighed, then shrugged. "Honestly? Yes," she said truthfully. "I miss my friends. I miss the warmth. I miss the _sunshine_ ," she added with a note of disdain. "I haven't seen the sun _once_ since I got here, and that's kind of depressing." Danielle sighed again, before shaking her head. "But I guess Forks isn't so bad," she admitted. "I've met some nice people, and I kind of like the whole ' _small town'_ aesthetic. Plus my mom is really happy here, so I think it kinda makes it all worth it, you know?" she told him.

Jasper glanced behind them, looking at Lynne and Emmett as they discussed a few books near the front of the store. "What about you?" he asked, looking at her again. "Are _you_ happy here?"

Danielle pressed her lips together, unsure how to answer him. When she took too long to respond, Jasper frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry," he said. "That was a very personal thing to ask."

"It's fine," Danielle quickly reassured him. He seemed to relax after that. "To answer your question, I wouldn't say I'm _unhappy_ here. I'm just…still getting used to it. It just takes time, right?" she added optimistically.

Jasper nodded. "Right."

They stopped talking and continued searching through the rows of books. While Jasper studied the titles on the spines, reaching out every so often to inspect something that caught his attention, Danielle found her gaze magnetized to him. She had thought he was handsome right from the start, but the more she looked at him, the more she began to think that _handsome_ didn't really do him justice. Everything about him was perfect, from his slightly wild blonde hair to the line of his jaw to the graceful way his fingers trailed along the books as he searched for one that he might want. He _smelled_ good, too, something she hadn't noticed when they'd first met. There was an earthy scent clinging to him, one that made her think of pine trees and left her wondering if perhaps he had been in the forest recently, because that certainly didn't smell like any sort of cologne that could be bought in a store.

Jasper Hale wasn't just _handsome,_ she decided right then and there. He was breathtaking. He was _beautiful_.

When he suddenly looked at her and their gazes met, she blushed and quickly turned to continue down the aisle, cursing herself internally for getting caught staring at him. She heard him slowly trail behind her, but she didn't dare turn around to face him, not while her cheeks were still so red.

On the next aisle, she was relieved when she finally located a section of books dedicated to the Civil War. Being around Jasper was making her nervous for an entirely new reason now, and it was making it difficult for her to concentrate on acting like the normal, level-headed human being she liked to believe she was. Part of her was ready to help Jasper find a book and send him on his way, just so she could get her bearings again – the other part of her kind of wanted him to stick around, even if it was only so she could stare at him a bit longer.

"Here we are," Danielle announced, moving closer to the books and eyeing the titles. "We've got biographies about different generals, a few books focusing on just the battles, some more books about the president and politics at the time," she listed off. She glanced back at Jasper, but found that he had been looking at _her_ , not at the books she was telling him about. When he realized he'd been caught staring, however, he quickly shifted his attention to the books. Danielle cleared her throat again. "Any of these sound interesting?"

"May I see one of the books about the battles, please?" Jasper asked with a nod toward the books in question.

Danielle nodded, grabbed the first one she saw, then placed it in his outstretched hand. She waited patiently while Jasper opened up the book and flipped through the first few chapters, his eyes quickly scanning the words on the pages. Danielle watched him closely, admiring the way the light bounced off his golden hair, resisting the urge to step closer just so she could get another whiff of the piney scent that clung to him. Danielle finally stopped staring when he glanced up at her briefly, as if he could feel her eyes on him. Instead she glanced back at her mother and Emmett, who were now sharing a laugh about something in the front. Emmett looked her way and raised his brows at her, as if silently asking how everything was going. Danielle just smiled and gave him a discreet nod to say that everything was alright.

"I'll get this," Jasper announced a moment later, closing the book as he finished his initial inspection. "I think it seems quite interesting."

"Alright," Danielle said with a smile. She held her hand out for the book, which he passed back to her, then motioned for him to follow her back to the register. "I'll get you rung up."

Jasper nodded, and with that they left the non-fiction area behind and went to the front checkout counter. She noticed when Jasper and Emmett shared a nod, and also noticed the way her mother looked Jasper up and down. As she went behind the cash register and began to ring Jasper up, he stood on the other side of the counter, his eyes watching her every move. It was a transaction that should have been quick, but the way he was watching her made her nervous feelings kick back up. Her heart began to pound against her ribs and her fingers shook a bit, which made her have to start over with the transaction process _twice_ because she kept pressing the wrong buttons.

Finally, she was able to get it right. "That'll be sixteen dollars and fifty-seven cents," she said.

Jasper grabbed his wallet and pulled out a credit card. She ran the card, passed it back to him, then grabbed the receipt when it finished printing. "Do you have a pen?" he asked, since he needed to sign the receipt.

"Yeah, uh, lemme just…" She trailed off and glanced around, until she spotted a pen on the end of the counter. "There it is."

Danielle stretched her arm to the left to grab the pen, then offered it to Jasper. He didn't take it though, didn't even _look_ at the pen. Instead, he frowned deeply and his jaw tightened as his eyes stared intently at Danielle's left arm, as if he was seeing something he didn't like. Confused, Danielle glanced down at her own arm, only to quickly realize exactly what Jasper had seen. When she had reached for the pen, the sleeve of her shirt had slid upward, exposing the bruises that she had been trying to hide. In an instant, she knew that Jasper had figured out exactly where they had come from. His gaze flicked to her other arm, then back and forth a few times, before finally looking into her eyes. She'd never seen anyone look as guilty or as _angry_ with themselves as Jasper looked in that exact moment.

"I did that," he stated quietly, his eyes full of shame and regret. "I left those marks on you."

She didn't know why, but she felt her heart go out to him. "It's nothing I can't handle," she assured him.

"But – " he started to argue.

" _Jasper_ ," she interrupted firmly, placing a hand over one of his, which was resting on top of the counter. Jasper's eyes darted down to where she was touching him, then shot back up to hers. She thought she saw him gulp. " _I'm fine._ Okay?" she insisted.

Jasper finally nodded, even though he didn't look convinced. Danielle moved her hand away from his after that, then handed him the pen. After he signed the receipt, he handed it back. She printed out a second copy of the receipt, placed it and the book in a small plastic bag, then handed it over to him. "I'm so sorry, Danielle," he said quietly as he took the bag, his eyes full of remorse.

Danielle gave him a small, gentle smile. "And I already forgave you, remember?" she said pointedly.

Jasper just nodded again, then took a big step backward. "I…I should go," he said, glancing toward the door.

"Okay," Danielle said, half of her feeling relieved that he was leaving, but the other half not wanting him to go yet. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?" she asked.

Jasper nodded. "You will," he confirmed. "Goodbye, Danielle," he finally said.

"Bye."

Jasper turned and left after that, not even bothering to wait for Emmett as he quickly walked outside. Danielle let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding once he was gone, then ran a hand through her red curls, her head shaking a bit. She finally looked away from the door that Jasper had just disappeared through when Emmett said goodbye to her mother and came walking up to the checkout counter. He glanced at the door, then raised his brows at her.

"Told you he wasn't a bad guy," he said knowingly, which made Danielle smile a bit. "Everything good now?" he asked hopefully.

Danielle thought about it, then nodded. "I think so," she said, though the uncertainty in her tone was obvious. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Emmett nodded, then jerked her head toward the exit. "I should go. But I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

After Danielle nodded, Emmett made a fist with one large hand and extended it in her direction. Danielle looked at it in confusion until she realized he was waiting for her to fist bump him. When she did finally did so, he smirked and pumped his fist in the air in silent celebration. Danielle couldn't help but snort at him in amusement, despite the whirlwind of emotions still swirling through her after her encounter with Jasper.

"Later, Danielle," he said with a grin as he headed for the door.

"Bye, Emmett," she called back.

Once Emmett was gone and the door had shut behind him, Danielle sighed and leaned heavily against the counter. Barely two seconds later, Lynne came to stand on the other side of the counter.

"Okay, missy," Lynne said, making Danielle look at her. Her mother had her brows raised and was standing in the stereotypical ' _mom pose'_ , complete with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping against the ground impatiently. "Clearly you've been withholding information," she said accusingly. "Wanna tell me what that was all about?"

Danielle didn't really want to talk boys with her mother, but she also knew the look that was currently on Lynne's face – she wasn't going to let the subject drop until she found out what she was wanting to know. "They're just some guys I go to school with," she answered. When Lynne wasn't satisfied with that answer, Danielle heaved. "Jasper and I kinda got off on the wrong foot the other day, so he came to apologize and set things right," she told her truthfully. "It's not a big deal, honestly."

Lynne quirked a brow. "You said there weren't any cute boys at your school," she reminded her. "Emmett was cute. And that _Jasper_ was a looker, too. And it _certainly_ looked like there was something going on between the two of you," she added knowingly.

"There's _nothing_ going on between me and Jasper," Danielle insisted.

"You sure?" Lynne countered.

" _Yes,_ Mom," Danielle said impatiently.

Lynne narrowed her eyes for a moment, then finally held her hands up in defeat. "Alright. If you say there's nothing going on, then there's nothing going on," she conceded. Danielle sighed with relief and started to thank her for dropping the subject, but didn't get the chance to before her mother spoke again. "Not _yet_ anyway," she added, which made Danielle roll her eyes. "Roll your eyes all you want, sweetie, but I can clearly see that you're interested," Lynne said, undeterred. "And I can see that _he_ is, too."

She might have said more, but thankfully the door opened and a few elderly customers came walking in. Lynne shot her one last look, then went to go and help them, leaving Danielle by herself again.

Was Lynne wrong about her being interested in Jasper? No, she supposed she wasn't. The fact of the matter was that the Jasper she had met today was _nothing_ like the Jasper she had met on her first day of school. Today he had been cordial, pleasant, _friendly_. It was such a drastic change from how he had been when they had first been around each other, so drastic that now she was questioning everything she had been feeling toward Jasper Hale these past few days. She had thought he was a jerk, that he was someone she didn't even want to _attempt_ to befriend and who she had decided to avoid like the plague.

Yet, after today, he actually seemed… _nice_. All of her previous fear of him was gone, replaced instead by interest and curiosity. He'd shown a completely different side to her, and this new side was one that she liked, one that made her want to talk to him more and get to know him better.

But certainly her mother was wrong when she said that Jasper was interested in her in return, right? His only reason for coming to talk to her today was because he had wanted to apologize to her, like any normal person would do after they wronged someone else. There were no ulterior motives there, Danielle was sure of it. Besides, why would someone like _him_ be interested in someone like _her_? He was insanely attractive, came from a family that apparently had a boatload of money, and could likely get anyone he wanted. So why would he even give her a second look?

Besides, did she even _want_ him to be interested in her in that way? Danielle thought about that for a second, then decided that she wasn't sure _what_ she wanted anymore. She couldn't deny that she was attracted to him physically, and this new, friendly side to Jasper certainly held promise…but she couldn't just forget what had happened between them so easily. There was clearly another side to him, one that was unpredictable, one that she needed to remain wary of no matter _how_ friendly he was to her. Today might have been a step in the right direction, but he still had a ways to go before he proved that he was someone she could trust.

Danielle finally told herself to stop thinking about it. Jasper had apologized and they had agreed to a fresh start. Now, only time would tell what would happen between her and Jasper Hale.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's.

_Chapter Three_

On Monday morning, Danielle woke to the sound of rain pattering against her bedroom window. She came to alertness slowly, blinking a few times to clear the sleep from her eyes, before turning onto her back. With a wide yawn, she stretched her arms above her head, hearing a bone or two pop as she did so. She then glanced at the clock on her nightstand, which read _7:30._

It took a moment for the time to register, but when it finally did, Danielle's eyes went wide with shock. " _Crap!"_ she shouted, jumping out of her bed like it was on fire. She had overslept, which meant that instead of having a solid half hour to get ready for school, she now only had five minutes to get it together before she was supposed to meet Bella at the truck.

Danielle raced around the bedroom, searching wildly for clothes and throwing on the first clean items her hands touched. She then ran into the bathroom to quickly wash her face and brush her teeth, before throwing her hair into another messy knot on the top of her head. Skipping any makeup this time around, she practically jumped into a pair of shoes before racing downstairs. She grabbed a bagel from the pantry, rounded up her belongings for school, grabbed her jacket, and was out the door in what had to be record timing.

Danielle jogged across the street, bagel hanging from her mouth as she struggled to put on her jacket, her backpack swinging around wildly with her movements. Bella was leaning against her truck and holding an umbrella over her head to shield herself from the rain, looking thoroughly amused as she watched Danielle attempt to get herself in order. Danielle finally got herself situated, then grabbed a hold of her bagel and took a large bite, her eyes briefly turning upward to glare at the rain coming down from the grey sky.

"Rough morning?" Bella called to her jokingly.

"I woke up late," Danielle grumbled as she joined her under the umbrella. She _hated_ oversleeping – she felt like it threw her whole day off whenever she had to rush to get ready in the morning. "I hope you haven't been waiting long," she said, her expression apologetic.

Bella shook her head. "Nah, I only came outside like a minute ago."

"Good," Danielle said with relief. "Now let's get out of the rain before I end up looking like a drowned rat."

Bella nodded, and they quickly hurried to climb into the cab. As they began driving toward school, Danielle quickly shoved the rest of her bagel into her mouth to finish it. Now that the morning was back on track and she could think coherently again, she couldn't wait to tell Bella what had happened with Jasper the previous day.

"Jasper and Emmett came to my mother's store yesterday," Danielle blurted out.

Bella looked over at her sharply, her eyes wide with surprise. "What?" she asked in shock. "Why?"

"Jasper came to apologize, and I think Emmett just tagged along for moral support," Danielle said with a shrug. "Needless to say, I was shocked as all hell when they came walking into the shop."

"I'll bet," Bella said with a huff. "So what did he say? How did it go?" she asked eagerly.

Danielle quickly recounted everything that Jasper had said, from how he had said that he had been having a hard time the day he had grabbed her and hadn't been feeling like himself, to how he had been completely ashamed of himself for how he had treated her. She told Bella how he had admitted that even _he_ hadn't thought he deserved her forgiveness but had come to beg for it anyway, and how, in the end, he had said that he hoped he could prove to her that he was not that mean, angry person he had been when they first met. Bella listened with rapt attention, her brows furrowed with interest.

"And what did _you_ say?" Bella asked when Danielle finished talking.

"I told him I forgave him," she said simply. Bella raised her brows, as if it surprised her to hear that Danielle had forgiven him so quickly. "Don't get me wrong, I almost _didn't_ forgive him," Danielle said. As she remembered how sincere Jasper had been, she could only sigh and shrug a shoulder. "But I could tell that he meant everything he had said and that he really felt bad for what had happened. In the end, giving him a second chance felt like the right thing to do."

Bella nodded slowly in understanding. "So then what happened next?" she asked curiously. "Did he leave after that?"

"Actually, no," Danielle revealed. "He stayed to shop for a book and we ended up talking for a little bit." She smiled a bit as she remember how _nice_ Jasper had been. "He wasn't anything like the guy that scared the crap out of me when we first met," she said, shaking her head. "He was friendly and polite and… _normal_. And he certainly didn't have _black eyes,_ " she said pointedly. "I dunno…it's got me wondering if maybe I was mistaken that day. Maybe there _isn't_ anything weird going on with Jasper after all," she mused aloud. "Maybe I was wrong about him."

Bella pressed her lips together, her eyes staring forward. She was silent for a long moment, until she finally nodded. "Yeah. Maybe," she agreed quietly. Bella looked deep in thought for another moment before she shook her head, as if clearing her mind. She then looked over at Danielle and offered her a smile. "I'm glad he came to talk to you," she said. "And I'm glad he apologized."

Danielle smiled and nodded. "Me too."

"What do you think will happen now?" Bella asked curiously.

Danielle looked at Bella and shrugged. "I have no idea," she said honestly. "I just have to wait and see what happens, I guess."

Bella made a sound of understanding, then looked at Danielle with raised brows. "What do you _want_ to happen?"

Danielle had to think about it for a moment. On the one hand, Jasper had a lot to make up for, and him proving he _wasn't_ a jerk was important. On the other hand, however, she couldn't deny that she was attracted to him, and she certainly was seeing him in a different way after his heartfelt apology. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to delve too deeply into those new feelings, however, not when she and Jasper barely even knew each other.

"If he proves he's not a bad guy, then I'm cool with being friends," Danielle finally said with a nod. "Other than that, I have _no_ idea."

They stopped talking about Jasper after that, which was a bit of relief. Danielle didn't have many answers when it came to Jasper Hale, and she didn't want to keep overanalyzing things. All she knew in that moment was that she and Bella would soon be at school, which meant she would soon be seeing Jasper again. And though she really tried not to acknowledge it, she couldn't help the small feeling of excitement that started to grow in the pit of her belly at the thought of seeing him again _._

They finally pulled into the school parking lot about ten minutes later, and by that time the rain had died down enough to where they didn't need the umbrella anymore. They pulled into one of the only spaces left, which just so happened to be a few spaces down from a fancy looking red car. Danielle stepped out of the truck, looked at the car, then realized with a jolt that the fancy car was one of the Cullen cars. She glanced at the school, and as she thought about Jasper being in there somewhere, her heart thumped hard against her ribs.

After grabbing their backpacks and locking the truck, Danielle and Bella headed into the school and made a beeline for their lockers, which were close to one another. Once they had the things they needed for their first few classes, they said their goodbyes for the time being.

"Good luck," Bella said with a smile, giving her an encouraging nod.

Danielle smiled nervously. "Thanks," she said, trying to ignore the butterflies flapping wildly in her stomach.

She headed for her class, her thoughts - and her _heart_ \- racing more and more with each step that brought her closer to Jasper. Once she was standing outside the classroom, she paused to take a steadying breath, then finally stepped into the room.

Her eyes landed on Jasper immediately. He was sitting in his usual seat, the one next to his sister, Rosalie. It seemed to Danielle that he had been watching the door because his gaze was locked in her direction, almost like he'd been waiting for her to arrive. He sat straighter as their eyes met, then offered a small smile and a nod of his head. Danielle smiled back, feeling her cheeks heat up with what was undoubtedly a blush, and offered a small wave.

"Hey, _new girl_ ," said an impatient voice behind her. "Move it or lose it!"

Danielle jumped in surprise, realizing then that she had been standing in the doorway and blocking anyone else from coming inside. She glanced back at the irritated guy behind her, mumbled an apology, then went to her seat. Jasper shot a look at the boy who had snapped at her, his expression hard to read, then looked at Danielle, his brows raising a bit. She just shrugged in response, her expression sheepish.

Suddenly, Rosalie leaned over and said something for only Jasper to hear, making him look away from Danielle so he could gaze at his sister instead. Danielle looked at her too, and though she had no idea what Rosalie was saying, if the glare the blonde threw her way was anything to judge by, it wasn't anything _good._ Jasper glanced back at Danielle again, then heaved and faced forward again as the bell rang to signal the start of class. Rosalie just gave her one last hard look before shifting her attention forward as well.

Danielle shook her head, confused, before forcing herself to focus on the teacher as he started talking.

It wasn't very easy to pay attention to the lesson. With Jasper sitting just a couple rows over, she frequently found her eyes wandering over to him, admiring the way his dark blue sweater contrasted against his pale skin and golden hair. He looked cute when he was concentrating, she decided. Then again, he probably looked cute no matter _what_ he was doing.

About halfway through class, when Jasper snuck a look over his shoulder and caught her looking at him, Danielle came back go the present and quickly looked away. Why was she sitting there thinking about how cute Jasper was? Hadn't she just told Bella not even an hour ago that she was only open to the idea of _friendship_ with Jasper? Why was she ogling him like some crazed fangirl?

Danielle forced herself to focus on the lesson for the rest of class, and before she knew it, the bell was ringing overhead to send everyone to their second class of the day. Danielle gathered her things slowly, trying to be discreet as she watched Jasper do the same. He stood from his seat but didn't leave straight away, which made Rosalie stop and share a few more words with him. Finally, Jasper said something that made Rosalie scowl, shoot Danielle a dark look, then go stomping out of the classroom.

Danielle watched her go, not sure she knew what was going on but feeling pretty certain that whatever it was, it had something to do with _her._ She then looked at Jasper, who was standing at the front of the class and looking at her, as if he was waiting for her to get up. Her brows shot up in surprise, before she pressed her lips together and stood from her desk, clutching her books tightly to her chest out of nervousness as she walked up to him. Jasper held his books tightly with one hand, his other hand shoved deep into the pocket of his jeans. He looked a bit uncertain, maybe even a tiny bit _nervous_ as she came toward him. He smiled politely nonetheless, and the sight of his smile up close made her heart skip a beat.

"Hello again, Danielle," he said smoothly.

"Hi, Jasper," she said with a small smile.

He looked at her for a moment, then gestured toward the door. "Shall we go to English?" he asked.

Danielle was shocked that he wanted to walk with her, but she quickly nodded, and with that they walked out of the class together.

Once they were in the hall they fell into step with one another, walking side by side. And though neither of them spoke at first, they both snuck glances at each other as they started in the direction of their next class.

"You seem to be of particular interest today," Jasper finally commented to break the silence, his eyes surveying the many students around them.

Danielle hadn't been paying attention to anyone but Jasper, but his observation made her take a moment to glance around. Just as had happened when she'd walked with Emmett the week before, nearly every person they passed was gaping at them with surprise, as if they couldn't believe they were seeing someone, let alone the newest addition to Forks High, in the company of a Cullen.

"It's because I'm with you," she said without thinking. Jasper looked at her with a slight smirk, which made her blush yet again. He made her blush so frequently, she was starting to fear her cheeks would turn permanently red before long. "You know…because you're a Cullen," Danielle quickly added, not wanting him to think she was insinuating that their classmates thought something was going on between them. "Aren't you Cullen's supposed to hate everyone or something?"

Jasper thought about it, then shrugged. "Not _everyone_ ," he correct. "Just the _annoying_ ones," he added, that same smirk reappearing on his lips.

Danielle smiled, then gave him a curious look as she remembered something Jessica had said the other day. "You're not a Cullen, though," she pointed out. "Not by _name_ anyway," she added when he gave her a confused look. "Your name is Hale."

Jasper didn't look confused anymore. "Yes, it is," he confirmed. "When Rosalie and I were adopted, we had the opportunity to take the name of our new family," he told her. "We chose not to, though. We preferred to keep our own name."

Danielle's brows furrowed with interest. "You and Rosalie? You're actually related? As in _blood_ related?" she asked.

Jasper gave her a small smile. "She's my twin."

Danielle's expression turned to one of shock. She certainly hadn't expected _that_ one. But now that she thought about it, she supposed she should have been able to tell from the beginning – they were the same age, had the same hair color, and all around looked quite similar. It only made sense that they were brother and sister by blood, not just by adoption.

"I see," Danielle mused aloud, nodding her head. She then quirked a brow at Jasper. "Well, seeing as you're her twin, I suppose you know her pretty well, right?" Jasper nodded in confirmation. "Mind explaining to me why she seems to hate my guts?" she asked bluntly.

Jasper tensed for a moment, his eyes meeting hers sharply. When Danielle just raised her brows and gave him a look that said she expected him to give her a good answer, he cleared his throat and shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable now. "Rosalie doesn't have many people that she's close to. In fact, the only people she cares for at all are me, Emmett, and our family," he explained. "When it comes to new people interacting with us, she can get a bit…protective. Almost to the point of territorial," he told her with a small wince. "She doesn't _hate_ you. She just…doesn't trust easily," he finally concluded.

Danielle supposed she could understand Rosalie's protectiveness, because _she_ could get the same way when it came to her _own_ loved ones. But what exactly did Rosalie think Danielle was going to do? What could she possibly find so threatening about her? "Well, it sure _seems_ like she hates me," she countered.

"She'll come around," Jasper said. Danielle gave him a disbelieving look. "Maybe," he added after that, looking unsure himself.

They walked in silence for the next few moments. It eventually registered in Danielle's mind that she wasn't feeling as nervous or awkward in Jasper's presence as she had when they had first started walking together. She felt much calmer now, felt comfortable and relaxed and at ease with him.

"So," she said, wanting to steer the conversation elsewhere. "Have you started reading that book you bought?"

Jasper smirked, took a quick second to sort through the school books he was holding, then produced the book she had sold to him the previous day. She could see a dog-eared page more than halfway through, which let her know he'd already read quite a bit. "I can hardly put it down," he said with a nod. "It was an excellent suggestion. Thank you."

Danielle didn't know why, but it was immensely satisfying to know that Jasper was enjoying the book that she had sold him. "I'm glad you like it," she said, trying not to sound _too_ pleased. "At the rate you're going, you'll be finished with that book in no time," she added, pointing to the dog-eared page.

Jasper nodded as he tucked the book back in with his school textbooks. "Guess I'll just have to come see what other books you might suggest when I'm done, won't I?" he asked with a small smile.

Danielle smiled and nodded. "I guess you will." She turned her eyes forward then, trying not to acknowledge how happy it made her feel to know that Jasper clearly wanted to spend more time around her. The smile on her lips, however, was impossible to wipe off.

They finally made it to class, and though Danielle expected Jasper to sit in his usual seat on the other side of the room, he ended up sliding into the desk on her right instead, so that they sat next to one another. The girl who had sat there last week seemed surprised when she entered the room and found the desk occupied, but when Jasper merely gave her a look that said he wouldn't be going anywhere, she quickly scampered off to find another place to sit. Danielle hid a smile behind her hand, feeling a little bad for the girl who was so obviously intimidated by Jasper, but also liking the fact that he was so determined to sit next to her.

The bell rang to signal the start of the lesson, and if she thought it had been hard to concentrate in Calculus when Jasper had been sitting within eyesight, it was three times as difficult to focus now that he was right next to her. She tried to concentrate on what the teacher was saying, she really did. But all of her senses seemed to be tuned in to Jasper, aware of his every movement and of every breath he took. Danielle couldn't stop herself from glancing at him out of the corner of her eye every so often. Jasper, she noted with a funny feeling in her stomach, was doing the same thing.

Not long into class, their teacher told them all to pair up for an in-class assignment, and after sharing a quick look with one another, Danielle and Jasper paired with each other. They pushed their desks closer together, which had seemed like a good idea in theory, but actually ended up perhaps being a bad idea in the end. Once he was sitting closer, that piney scent that clung to Jasper seemed to surround her, invading her nostrils and making it even _more_ difficult to focus on the task at hand. All she wanted to do was lean over and press her nose into his shirt, just so she could get more of that wonderful scent in her nose.

Danielle rolled her eyes at her own train of thought. What was _wrong_ with her? Why couldn't she seem to get ahold of herself? She and Jasper had only _just_ started taking the first few tentative baby steps toward friendship – if she wanted things between them to stay on the right path, she needed to act like a _normal_ person, not like some weird, clothes-sniffing freak.

"Are you alright, Danielle?" Jasper asked quietly, his deep, smooth voice quickly pulling her back to the present.

Danielle smiled at him and nodded jerkily. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, trying to act and sound casual. "Why do you ask?"

"You just seem a bit…distracted," he pointed out, his eyes studying her with interest.

"Nah. I'm just…thinking about the assignment," Danielle lied with a shrug.

Jasper nodded and did not push the subject any further. Danielle mentally berated herself again as he turned his attention back to the assignment, telling herself internally to get it together before Jasper started to think she had some sort of chemical imbalance.

Quite out of nowhere, a sense of calmness crept over her and her internal fretting slowly came to an end. Danielle smiled contentedly, though she wasn't quite sure _why_ she was smiling, and looked at Jasper, feeling at ease again. Jasper merely smirked a bit, then, after he asked her a question about the assignment, they quickly got back to work.

When the bell rang, they gathered up their things and left together. Jasper held the door for her, which made her smile as she passed by - apparently Jasper was a bit of a _gentleman_. He followed her out into the hall and they paused outside the classroom, both staring at each other with slight awkwardness, as if they didn't know what to say or do next. Danielle could not help but to think back to the last time they had been standing outside this classroom together, how on that day Jasper had been terrifying and she had been scared out of her mind to be in his presence. Now, well…now things were very different. It was amazing how drastically things could change in such a short amount of time.

"I should probably be getting to class," she said, even though she didn't particularly want to part ways with him. "But…it was nice talking to you," Danielle said, holding her books tight to her chest again as she tried to fight the urge to blush under his gaze.

"It was nice talking to you, too," Jasper agreed. "I'll see you later, Danielle," he then said, inclining his head a bit.

"Bye, Jasper."

Danielle looked at him for another moment, then finally turned and started down the hallway. She glanced back after a few steps and was not surprised to see that Jasper was watching her leave. Danielle smiled at him, which earned her a small smile of his own in return. She faced forward again, grinning to herself now, and continued on to her next class.

* * *

When she walked into her history class, Emmett was already sitting at his desk. Danielle tried very hard to contain the smile that had been on her face ever since she had parted ways with Jasper as she sat down, but she failed miserably. She was pleased with the way everything was going so far, and it was impossible to hide.

"Someone's in a good mood today," Emmett remarked teasingly.

Danielle glanced at him. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said evasively.

"Liar," Emmett accused without missing a beat. "How'd it go with Jasper?" he then asked, looking very curious to know.

Another smile threatened to spread across her face, but Danielle managed to suppress it. "Everything was fine," she answered aloofly.

Emmett looked at her, then snorted. "That's it? That's all you've got to tell me?" he asked disbelievingly. "C'mon, Dani," he said, catching her by surprise as he called her by the nickname that usually only her mother and her friends called her by. "Give me the details. You can trust me," he encouraged with a nod.

Danielle shook her head and gave him an exasperated, albeit _amused_ , look. She was starting to think Emmett might be just as big of a gossip as Jessica was. "There's nothing to tell, Emmett. We talked between classes, worked on an assignment together, then went our separate ways. It was cordial. It was _normal."_

Emmett stared at her through narrowed eyes, looking very much like he suspected that she still wasn't telling him the whole story. Eventually he seemed to come to the conclusion that she wasn't going to cave, however, and nodded in approval. "Well, that's good. It would have been a shame if things hadn't gone well, especially so considering how _happy_ Jasper was after talking things out with you yesterday," he added matter-of-factly.

Danielle looked at Emmett sharply after he said this, her heart skipping a beat. Jasper had been happy? Exactly _how_ happy? What else did Emmett know? Had Jasper told him anything? She really wanted to ask for more details, but when she saw the smirk on Emmett's face and the knowing look in his eye, as if she had reacted _exactly_ as he had thought she would, she knew she had to play it cool. Anything she did or said would likely get back to Jasper, so she didn't want to come off as too eager or too interested.

"He was happy, huh?" she asked, keeping her voice perfectly neutral.

"Uh huh," Emmett confirmed, his smirk not budging an inch. " _Super_ happy. Almost annoyingly so."

Danielle nodded, though internally her stomach flipped with excitement. "Good, good," she said nonchalantly, still trying to play things cool.

Emmett grinned. Clearly he wasn't buying her act. "You know you're happy to hear it," he accused lightheartedly. "I can practically _see_ you dancing in your head right now."

Danielle rolled her eyes, then, without giving it a second thought, she reached over to smack his muscled shoulder. The moment she made contact, however, pain shot through her hand, making her hiss and immediately rub her hand. "Geez, muscle man," she said, frowning at him as her hand throbbed. It felt like she'd just smacked a brick wall. "What the heck are you made of, _iron_? I'm surprised I didn't break my freaking hand."

Emmett chuckled and wagged a finger at her. "That, my friend, is what you get for hitting people," he shot at her in a scolding tone. "Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" he then asked, clicking his tongue in mock disappointment. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

Danielle snorted and rolled her eyes. "And it's in this moment that I've realized exactly how _annoying_ you are," she said, shaking her head.

Emmett grinned. "You still like me, though," he said with confidence.

He was right, of course. He was annoying and nosey and cocky, but it was the _right_ kind of annoying and nosey and cocky. Emmett made her laugh, he was easy to talk to, and outside of Bella, he was probably the only person in Forks High that she felt completely comfortable around. The truth of the matter was that Emmett Cullen was becoming her friend, and there was nothing she could do – or _wanted_ to do – to stop that. She wasn't going to tell _him_ that, though. He was arrogant enough as it was without her adding fuel to the fire.

"If that's what you wanna believe," Danielle shot at him with a sweet, slightly sarcastic smile.

Emmett snorted, looking unconvinced. "Deny it all you want. I know the truth," he shot back.

Danielle started to say something in response, but froze when a new voice beat her to the punch.

"Miss Clark! Mr. Cullen!" their teacher snapped. They both looked to the front of the room, and Danielle was surprised to discover that their teacher had taken her place at the chalkboard and was looking quite annoyed at the moment. Apparently the bell had rung and class had started, only Danielle had been so preoccupied talking to Emmett that she hadn't noticed. "Class has started and I will ask that you _pay attention_ ," the teacher said huffily. "If you continue to talk, I'll be forced to separate you!" she then threatened.

"Sorry, ma'am," Danielle said immediately, her cheeks turning pink.

Emmett apologized as well, and after giving them one last stern glare, the teacher turned around to start writing on the chalkboard. Once her back was turned on them, Emmett flashed her a mischievous grin. "I'd just like to see her _try_ to separate us," he murmured just loud enough for her to hear.

Danielle smirked in response, then forced her eyes forward so that she could pay attention.

Once History was over – they managed to make it through the rest of class without getting yelled at – she and Emmett bumped fists again and said their goodbye's, before going their separate ways. Danielle hurried to Spanish, eager to be reunited with Bella so she could tell her everything that had happened so far. She ended up beating Bella to class, then practically bounced in her seat as she waited for her friend to show.

When Bella arrived a few minutes later, she sat down in the seat next to Danielle and turned an expectant look on her. "How did it go?" she asked quietly.

"Good," Danielle said with a nod and a smile. "Like… _weirdly_ good," she added, letting Bella see just how surprised she was that things between her and Jasper had felt so _easy_ and _normal_ that morning. "It's almost like last week never even happened."

"That's a good thing," Bella said encouragingly.

"Yeah," Danielle agreed. "I just hope things _stay_ good, you know?" she said. Because she did not want to think that Jasper had a bad side to him, or that he would lash out at her - or anyone - again. She liked friendly Jasper, and she wanted him to stick around.

Bella nodded in understanding.

Danielle glanced around for a moment, then leaned a bit closer to Bella. "Have you seen Edward today?" she asked to change the subject, raising her brows.

Bella gnawed on her lip, then shook her head. "No, not yet. But I don't have any classes with him in the morning, either," she reasoned. Bella hesitated for a moment, then gave her a questioning look. "Did...did Jasper or Emmett mention whether he was back or not?"

Danielle frowned and shook her head. "No, they didn't say anything about him."

Bella looked mildly disappointed. "Oh, okay." She sighed, then gave Danielle a small, nervous smile. "Guess I'll just have to wait and see if he's at lunch," she said. "Though I can't say I'm necessarily looking _forward_ to seeing him, not after the way he acted last week," she admitted with a slight frown.

Danielle reached over to pat her arm reassuringly. "I'm sure it'll be okay," she said optimistically. "Jasper came around easily enough. I'm sure Edward will, too."

Bella seemed to appreciate her attempts at reassurance, but still didn't look convinced. "Maybe," she said with a shrug.

Spanish went by fairly quickly, which Danielle was kind of happy about. She was ready to get to lunch, mostly because she was hungry, but also partly because she wanted to see Jasper again. The same could not be said for Bella, though. She looked nervous as they walked toward the cafeteria, her eyes darting around and her teeth gnawing on her lip to the point that Danielle started to worry she might draw blood.

"Relax," Danielle said, nudging Bella's side. "It'll be fine."

Bella didn't say anything to that, just nodded jerkily.

They finally reached the cafeteria, and as soon as they stepped inside, Danielle's eyes jumped to the table that the Cullen's occupied. Emmett, Rosalie, and the girl with short dark hair, whom she now knew to be named Alice, were there, but Danielle barely spared them a glance. Her gaze immediately found Jasper, who was staring right back at her. He offered a small smile and a nod of acknowledgement, which Danielle returned happily. She pulled her eyes from his, however, when Bella grabbed her arm and let out a tiny gasp.

"That's him," she hissed. "That's Edward."

Danielle frowned with confusion and looked at the table again, forcing herself _not_ to look at Jasper this time around. Lo and behold, there _was_ a fifth person at the table, a guy with bronze-colored hair that she had never seen before. He looked back and forth between Danielle and Jasper for a moment, his face one of interest, before turning his full attention on Bella. Bella instantly turned beet red.

Danielle gave Edward a long, scrutinizing look, then smirked at Bella. "He's pretty cute," she commented with a nod, saying the first thing that came to mind. Bella looked at her incredulously, which made Danielle believe she had said the wrong thing. "What?" she asked, shrugging.

Bella shook her head, then turned to head for the lunch line. Danielle looked at the Cullen table again, her eyes shooting straight to Jasper this time. He wasn't looking at her, though. He had his arms crossed and his eyes were narrowed with what looked like annoyance as he stared at Edward, who was watching Bella walk away. Danielle frowned with confusion before turning to follow Bella, wondering why Jasper was suddenly so irritated with his brother.

They grabbed their food, then went to join the usual group at their usual table. Danielle chose to sit in a seat that allowed her to see Jasper this time around, her heart beating a bit faster when she glanced his way and saw that he had stopped glaring at Edward and was looking at her again. She also noticed that Edward hadn't stopped watching Bella since the moment he had said eyes on her.

"Don't wanna freak you out or anything, but Edward is _definitely_ watching you," she whispered to her friend. Bella nodded, not looking surprised to hear it, and gulped nervously. "He doesn't look angry though," Danielle added quickly. "He just looks kinda…interested." Danielle looked at Edward again, who looked very intent. " _Really_ interested," she corrected herself.

Again, Bella just nodded in response. Her eyes darted over to Edward though, before she flushed a bit and stared down at her food intently.

"So, Danielle," Jessica said to catch her attention. Danielle looked at her and pressed her lips together cautiously when she saw a tell-tale glint in Jessica's eye. "While I was on my way to my second period class, I passed you walking down the hall with a one _Jasper Hale._ And you guys certainly looked pretty… _cozy_ ," she said, wagging her eyebrows.

Danielle tensed. She hadn't noticed Jessica in the hallway when she and Jasper had been going to their English class. Then again, she hadn't noticed _anyone_ who wasn't Jasper. "All we did was walk to class together," she said dismissively.

Jessica raised a brow. "Jasper Hale doesn't walk _anyone_ to class. In fact, I don't think I've ever even seen him _talk_ to anyone who wasn't in his family," she added.

"So?" Danielle asked.

" _So_ …what's going on there?" Jessica asked nosily. "Give me all the dirt!"

The guys at the table rolled their eyes, but Jessica and Angela looked at her with interest. Danielle glanced at Jasper, who was now talking to his sister, Alice. She thought she saw him shoot a glance in her direction, though. Danielle sighed and gave Jessica a look. "Nothing is going on. We're…friends," she insisted, even though she wasn't sure if he actually considered her a friend or not.

"Oh, come on," Jessica said with a huff. "You have to admit that he's cute. I mean, he's kind of weird and anti-social, and he's certainly no _Edward_ – " Bella tensed next to her at the mention of Jasper's brother. " – but he's not _bad_ looking. Aren't you just a _little bit_ interested?"

Danielle was starting to feel annoyed now, perhaps even a little bit _defensive_. She didn't like the fact that Jessica was prying into her personal business, and she _really_ didn't like the way Jessica was talking about Jasper. She didn't like the way she was comparing him to Edward and she didn't like the appraising looks she had begun to shoot in his direction, as if she was trying to determine just how cute she really thought he was. In fact, she decided she didn't like Jessica looking at Jasper _period._

Danielle glanced at Jasper again and saw that he was now looking down at the table he sat at, his mouth turned down into a deep frown, as if something was bothering him. It was almost as if he could hear what Jessica was saying, even though she knew it wasn't possible from where he sat.

"I don't think Jasper is _weird_ ," Danielle said with a frown as she jumped to Jasper's defense. "And I don't think it's very nice of you to talk about him like that," she added with a snap, her voice raising some in her sudden irritation. "Haven't you ever heard that if you don't have something nice to say, then you shouldn't say anything at all?"

Everyone at the table was looking at Danielle with surprise, though none looked quite as surprised as Jessica did. Even Bella had taken a moment to stop blushing under Edward's gaze and was looking at Danielle with raised brows.

"Er, I didn't…I wasn't…I didn't mean to – " Jessica stammered out, her cheeks turning bright red. She obviously hadn't expected Danielle to call her out that way, and the fact that she _had_ had clearly thrown her for a loop. "I wasn't trying to be _mean_ ," Jessica finally managed out, looking embarrassed.

"Well, it _was_ mean," Danielle countered without missing a beat.

Jessica looked even more embarrassed as she glanced around at the rest of the people at the table, none of whom looked particularly comfortable with the current situation. "I'm sorry," Jessica said to her timidly. "I shouldn't have said it. It won't happen again."

Danielle just nodded, the hard expression on her face finally easing some now that Jessica had apologized for what she had said about Jasper. An awkward silence fell over the table after that, where Jessica eyed Danielle with wariness, and where the rest of the table looked back and forth between them, clearly waiting to see what would happen next. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Angela – sweet, merciful Angela – cleared her throat and turned to Eric, who was sitting there with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"So, uh, Eric," she said to break the silence. "Read any good books recently?" she asked in a painfully obvious attempt to direct the conversation elsewhere, sounding way more enthusiastic to know than she probably needed to.

Angela and Eric started talking after that, and slowly but surely, everyone else did as well. Danielle couldn't resist shooting one more look in Jasper's direction, and when she did, she saw that he was no longer glaring at the table. He was watching _her_ again and there was a small smirk on his face. If she wasn't mistaken, he looked quite _pleased_ about something, though she had no idea what that something was. His smirk grew into a smile when their eyes met. Danielle smiled in return, then turned her attention to Angela.

The rest of lunch was, well…pretty uncomfortable. Danielle talked mostly with Angela and Eric, since Bella was too shell-shocked by Edward's return to do anything more than fidget in her chair and glance nervously in his direction every few minutes. Mike and Tyler got into a heated debate about sports that lasted for longer than seemed necessary, but Jessica, Danielle noticed, was very subdued for the remainder of the lunch period, only speaking if spoken to and picking at her lunch without much enthusiasm.

When the bell rang, Danielle and Bella said their goodbyes to the group and headed to their lockers so they could grab the things they needed for their next respective classes. She tried to sneak another look at Jasper on the way out of the lunchroom, but the crowd of students made it hard to spot him and she quickly gave up.

"You really stuck it to Jessica back there," Bella commented as they navigated their way to their lockers, apparently relocating her ability to talk now that she wasn't around Edward.

Danielle pressed her lips together. Now that she was thinking about, she was starting to think that maybe she had been a little too harsh. "Yeah," she said slowly, pulling a face. "I'm not really sure where that came from," she admitted.

And boy, wasn't _that_ the truth. She and Jasper were on good terms right now, yes, and if things continued the same way they had today, it was possible they were on the road to friendship. But why had she gotten so angry when Jessica had started talking about him? Why had she been so ready to defend Jasper? And why had she been so _aggressive_ about it? She was supposed to be taking this whole Jasper situation slow, was supposed to be cautious around him while she got to know him better. So then why had she been so _protective_ of him the moment someone had said something negative about him? It didn't make any sense to her whatsoever.

Danielle sighed and shook her head. She didn't regret sticking up for Jasper, but she did feel guilty for being so cold with Jessica. "I should apologize to her for getting so snippy," she said as they reached Bella's locker. While Bella opened her locker to retrieve her books, Danielle leaned her back against the locker next door, her head thumping back against the cool metal. "She probably thinks I'm a huge jerk."

Bella shrugged. "She _was_ being kind of rude, if you ask me," she pointed out. "But if it makes you feel better, talk things out with her," she added when she saw the uncertain look on Danielle's face. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Guess we'll see," Danielle said with a shrug.

Bella closed her locker, then looked in the direction of her class. She gnawed on her bottom lip, her previous nervousness returning in the blink of an eye. She knew it was because Bella would soon be going to Biology, where she would be face to face with Edward Cullen for the first time since their _own_ rocky first encounter. Danielle pushed away from the lockers and patted Bella's shoulder comfortingly.

"Hey, it'll be okay," she said encouragingly. "I have a good feeling about this."

Bella sucked in a deep breath, released it heavily, then nodded. "I hope so," she said with a jittery smile. "Might as well get this show on the road," she said next, her eyes filling with determination now. "See you at Gym?"

Danielle smiled and nodded. "Yep," she confirmed. "And I wanna hear all about what happens," she said pointedly.

"Hopefully I'll have something _good_ to tell you," Bella countered.

"I hope so, too," Danielle agreed.

Bella started off after that, leaving Danielle to watch her go. "Good luck!" Danielle called after her. Bella turned back to flash a small smile, then continued on. Once she was gone, Danielle went to her locker to grab her Physics book, then she headed off to her own class.

* * *

Danielle had never been a fan of Gym class. It wasn't that she wasn't athletic, because she was in decent shape and usually did pretty well when it came to physical activities. It also wasn't that she didn't like sports, because she actually really _did_ like sports. The main reason she didn't like Gym was because it was just _awkward._ She had to wear clothes she didn't like, get sweaty around people she didn't know, and try to ignore the boys in her class whenever they made comments about her and the other girls as they ran around the gym. All in all, it just wasn't a fun experience, and for as long as she could remember, Gym had been her least favorite class.

Today, however, Danielle practically ran toward the gym once she was out of her Physics class. She was eager to meet up with Bella again so she could hear what had happened with Edward. She had spent her entire Physics class thinking about them, wondering how things were going and hoping that they had been able to reach some sort of common ground. In fact, she had been so caught up thinking about Bella and Edward that she had actually _stopped_ thinking about Jasper for an entire class period. It was the first time that day that he _hadn't_ been the main focus of her thoughts.

She hurried into the girl's locker room and was relieved to find Bella already there. Bella had already begun to change, but it was obvious from the look on her face that her mind was a million miles away. Danielle, unsure whether her friend's slightly mystified expression was a good thing or a bad thing, quickly made her way over to Bella's side.

"How'd it go?" Danielle asked eagerly.

Bella blinked, then looked at Danielle with slightly wider eyes, as if surprised by her sudden appearance. She relaxed after a moment though, then shrugged. "It was…interesting," she answered, her brows furrowing. "We talked. And he was really polite."

Danielle instantly felt relieved. "That's good!" she said with a smile.

"Yeah," Bella agreed, though she still seemed a bit disoriented from the whole ordeal.

"What did you talk about?" Danielle pried as she finally opened up her gym locker, which was next to Bella's, and began to change into her gym clothes.

"I asked him why he had been gone, and he said he just had personal stuff to take care of," Bella told her. "Then we just kinda started making small talk and he asked me about my family and stuff like that." Bella shrugged. "He seemed interested in getting to know me, but the whole thing was just kinda… _awkward_."

"Hey, at least you guys talked," Danielle said pointedly. "It's better than the alternative, right?"

Bella nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. It's just…weird. Last week he was acting like he hated me, then suddenly he's talking to me about the stupid _weather_ and asking me a million questions about my life. I have _no_ idea what to make of him," she finally concluded with a defeated heave.

Danielle reached out and patted her shoulder. "Give it some time," she said. "The hard part is over. Now you just have to wait and see what happens from here on out."

Bella sighed and still looked uncertain, but she nodded anyway.

Their gym teacher came around after that and announced that anyone who wasn't in the gym within the next two minutes would get to run laps for the rest of the period. Danielle and Bella shared a wide eyed look, then quickly finished changing into their gym clothes, since neither one particularly wanted to the end the day by running laps for nearly an hour. They then hurried into the gym, squeaking in just before that two minute mark was up. The teacher took one long look at their sheepish expressions, then told them to go join the others and get ready to play some volleyball.

The game went by quickly, and since everyone still seemed to be doing their best to keep the ball _away_ from Bella, there were no injuries sustained this time around. When the bell rang and the school day was over, Danielle and Bella went back to the locker room to change, took a trip to their school lockers to grab what they needed for homework that night, then headed out into the parking lot. It wasn't raining anymore, but it _was_ freezing cold. Danielle shivered at the cold wind that whipped around her the moment she stepped outside, feeling pretty certain that it was getting colder and colder with each passing day. She glanced up at the grey, overcast sky, wondering if it was going to snow sometime soon.

"Look," Bella said, nudging her with her elbow. "There's Jessica if you wanna go talk to her," she said, pointing toward someone in the distance.

Danielle followed her gaze and saw Jessica talking with Angela not too far away. Danielle adjusted the backpack hanging on her shoulder and nodded. "Meet you at the truck?" she said.

After Bella nodded, Danielle headed over to where Jessica and Angela were. Angela spotted her first and smiled, though she did shoot a slightly awkward look toward Jessica. "Hey, Danielle," she greeted, which had Jessica turning to face her, looking all kinds of uncomfortable.

"Hey," Danielle said back. She then looked at Jessica and raised her brows hopefully. "Can we talk?"

Jessica glanced at Angela, who seemed to smile encouragingly, then nodded. "Sure."

Angela, sensing this was a conversation to be had in private, said her goodbye's and quickly excused herself. Once they were alone, Danielle looked to Jessica with apologetic eyes. "Look...about what happened earlier…I'm sorry for jumping down your throat," she apologized sincerely.

Now that Jessica knew Danielle had come to smooth things over, her demeanor changed drastically. Her shoulders relaxed and the discomfort left her expression, replaced quickly with remorse. "No, _I'm_ sorry. I wasn't trying to talk bad about Jasper and I wasn't trying to offend either one of you. I just…sometimes I don't think about the things I say before I say them," she admitted sheepishly.

"Still. I shouldn't have been such a jerk about it," Danielle insisted. "I don't regret sticking up for him, but…I could've handled it a lot better than I did. So, again...I'm sorry," she repeated. "Forgive me?"

"Only if you forgive me for opening my big mouth in the first place," Jessica said with a small, self-deprecating laugh.

"Deal," Danielle readily agreed with a smile. Then she stuck out a hand and raised her brows hopefully. "Friends?"

Jessica nodded and shook her hand. "Friends," she confirmed.

"Great," Danielle said, looking relieved. "I'm glad we talked things out. It was really gonna bug me if I didn't say something."

"I'm glad we did, too," Jessica agreed. "I should probably get going, though," she added, taking a step back. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yep, see you tomorrow," Danielle said with a nod.

Jessica smiled, then waved goodbye and walked away. Danielle sighed once she was alone, feeling much better now that she and Jessica had settled things. At least now she wouldn't spend the rest of the day feeling guilty, and now things wouldn't be super awkward between them going forward. With a smile on her face, she turned and resumed the trek to Bella's truck, ready to meet up with her friend and go home.

She only made it a few steps, however, when her gaze suddenly met someone else's, making her freeze in place.

Jasper was standing about twenty feet away, leaning casually against the red car he and his siblings drove to school, his eyes locked on her. He gave her a small smile when their eyes met, before pushing himself away from the car and starting in her direction. Danielle's heart suddenly began to pound within her chest – was he coming to talk to her? She snuck a glance behind her, just to see if there was someone else that might've caught his attention, but nobody was there. Danielle looked at him gain, watching as he paused to let a group of giggling freshmen pass by. Jasper then resumed walking in her direction, that small smile still playing on the corner of his mouth.

Yes, she decided, he was _definitely_ coming to talk to her.

But then, quite of nowhere, a girl with blonde hair was planting herself in front of Jasper, forcing him to screeching halt. It was Rosalie, and as she crossed her arms and kept herself firmly in Jasper's path, it was obvious her goal was to make sure Jasper couldn't go anywhere. Danielle frowned, watching as Jasper, who looked unhappy now, exchanged a few quick, heated looking words with his twin. Rosalie didn't look like she was going to back down, though. She poked Jasper in the chest, and even though Danielle couldn't hear what was being said, she could tell that Rosalie was angry.

Jasper finally scowled and held his hands up in defeat. He glanced at Danielle one last time, then turned on his heel and strode back to his car, his shoulders tense with annoyance. A strong sense of disappointment washed over Danielle as she watched him yank open the car door, get inside, then slam it closed behind him. She looked at Rosalie, who was giving her a look over her shoulder, then watched as the blonde turned around with a dramatic flick of her hair and went to the same car Jasper had just gotten in, her chin held high. Once she was in the car, the engine started up and the car pulled out of the parking space before speeding away.

Danielle heaved and finally started making her way to Bella's truck, frowning pensively to herself.

She just didn't understand what exactly it was that Rosalie had against her. Sure, Jasper had said that she was protective and not one to trust easily, but the way she was acting went _beyond_ protective in Danielle's eyes. Rosalie had physically stopped him from coming over to talk to her, as if Danielle carried some deadly virus that might spread to Jasper and, in turn, end up killing the whole Cullen family or something. She seemed to be going above and beyond to try to keep Jasper away from her, and she just couldn't help but think that there was more to it than Rosalie just being _'protective'._

Danielle found Bella leaning against the truck, waiting patiently for her to arrive. She raised her brows at Danielle, who tossed her backpack into the bed of the truck with perhaps a bit more force than was necessary.

"Everything okay?" she asked, clearly sensing something was wrong.

Danielle thought about telling Bella what had happened with Jasper and Rosalie, then changed her mind. She didn't want to talk about it right now. "Yeah, fine," she lied. "Let's go," she then urged, already moving to yank open the door to the passenger side and climb in.

Bella nodded and climbed into the cab, taking her place behind the steering wheel. She looked at Danielle for a moment, as if she knew Danielle was lying and was contemplating pressing the issue further. Thankfully, she decided against it in the end and started up the engine. Without another word, they left school and headed home.

* * *

"Holy guacamole," Danielle said with awe when she stepped out of her house the next morning.

There was snow and ice absolutely _everywhere_. All over the yards, piled on top of the houses and cars, falling from the tree limbs overhead. The news the night before had warned that they would get snow, but Danielle hadn't thought there would be _this_ much of it. She gazed around with astonishment as she stepped down onto the walkway, shivering against the cold, her breath forming little clouds every time she exhaled. She finally looked across the street in time to see Bella exiting her house. Just as Danielle had done, Bella froze with surprise as soon as she caught sight of the snowy landscape, her eyes going wide.

"Can you _believe_ this?" Danielle called as she finally began to make her way across the street, walking slow and careful so she wouldn't slip on any patches of ice.

Bella stepped down into her driveway and began to tiptoe her way to the truck to avoid as much ice and snow as possible. "Wow," she said. "I haven't seen snow like this since I was a kid!"

Danielle snorted and shook her head, pulling a face as a lump of snow fell from a tree and landed on her shoulder. "Not even gonna lie, this is kinda obnoxious," she complained, brushing away the snow that had fallen on her, shivering when some of it managed to find its way underneath the collar of her coat.

Bella laughed. "Gotta agree with you on that one," she said.

Danielle finally reached Bella's truck, feeling triumphant when she managed to do so without slipping. Her triumphant ended up being short lived, however, when she unexpectedly stepped on a patch of ice that had blended in with the ground.

"Ah!" she cried out as her feet slipped out from underneath her. She reached out and grabbed hold of the truck, clinging on for dear life so that she wouldn't fall butt first onto the frosty road. After a few seconds she managed to steady herself again, though she did not release her hold on the truck, just in case. She then shot a dirty look at Bella, who was laughing at her as she continued her slow trek down the driveway.

"Oh my god!" Bella said between laughs. "You should see your face right – _ah_!"

Bella suddenly went falling to the ground, her feet flying out from underneath her and her arms flailing about comically as she slipped on a patch of ice right in the middle of the driveway. She landed on the pavement with an _oof_ , her eyes wide with shock, as if she couldn't believe that had just happened. It was Danielle's turn to laugh now.

" _Hah_! That's what you get for laughing at me!" she said with a wag of her finger. "That, my friend, is what we call _karma."_

Bella gave her a grumpy look, then let out a small groan of pain as she began to attempt to stand. Danielle finally stopped laughing as she realized that Bella might actually be hurt and released her hold on the truck, slowly making her way over so she could offer her friend a hand. Bella took it, and with Danielle's help, she was soon on her feet.

"You okay?" Danielle asked with concern, despite the smirk of amusement that still lingered on her lips.

"I think so," she said, rubbing her backside with a wince. She pulled a face, twisting around so she could see the back of her pants. "I look like I wet myself, though," she said, referring to the wet spot on the seat of her pants. "Awesome," she added sarcastically.

"Don't worry about it," Danielle said with a laugh. "I'm sure it'll dry soon."

"I hope so," Bella said with a sigh.

They finally went toward the truck, both of them managing to stay on their feet this time, and climbed into the cab. Once they were en route to school, Danielle kept her hands next to the vents, trying to use the warm air that Bella had turned on to chase away the cold that seemed to seep right down to the bone. She noticed that Bella was driving slower than usual because of all the ice on the road, which she didn't mind – she didn't particularly want to start her day by getting into a wreck.

"I never got to ask," Bella said to break the silence. "How did your talk with Jessica go yesterday?"

Danielle smiled. "It was fine. I apologized, she apologized…all is right in the world again," she said.

"That's good," Bella said. Danielle saw her glance at her from the corner of her eye. "I thought maybe you guys had argued again or something," she said with a shrug. "You seemed upset when you came back to the truck."

Danielle frowned, knowing exactly what Bella was referring to. She _had_ been upset, though she hadn't been upset with Jessica. It was Rosalie and her apparent mission to do her very best to keep her and Jasper away from each other that had been bothering her. And though she had been trying very hard not to think about it, it _was_ still bothering her. She just didn't know _why_ Rosalie was so adamant about interfering, and she was worried that if Rosalie interfered enough times that Jasper would give up altogether just to please her. She and Jasper had only just started becoming friends – it would be disappointing if that friendship ended so quickly.

"Danielle?" Bella asked.

Danielle realized she had gotten lost in her own thoughts and shook her head. "I wasn't upset," she fibbed, hoping to avoid the topic of Rosalie for now. "Everything's fine."

Bella gave her a look, then nodded. "Okay, then," she said, not sounding entirely convinced.

"Are you looking forward to seeing Edward today?" Danielle asked after a brief pause, hoping to change the subject.

"In a way? Yes. But at the same time…no," Bella admitted with a sigh. "After all that stupid babbling I did yesterday, he probably thinks I'm an idiot," she added, shaking her head and looking annoyed with herself. "I'll probably just do something to make an even _bigger_ fool of myself today."

Danielle looked over at her and offered an encouraging smile. "I'm sure he didn't think you were babbling, _or_ that it was stupid. He obviously wanted to know about you, otherwise he wouldn't have asked you anything in the first place," she pointed out. "I think everything will be fine. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Her words seemed to comfort Bella, because some of the tension left her shoulders. She still looked nervous, though.

Eventually they pulled into the school parking lot, where they quickly discovered that most of the parking spaces were already taken. Bella ended up parking next to the curb on the edge of the lot, which meant that when Danielle got out of the truck, she stepped down into wet, sloshy snow. She pulled a face and hurried around the back end the truck so that she could stand on the pavement of the parking lot. She kicked the snow off her shoes, grumbling under her breath when she felt how wet her socks had already gotten.

"It's official. I hate the snow," she complained to Bella, who had gotten out of the truck and was standing by the hood as she rifled through her bag. "My toes feel like they've turned into little _toe-sicles._ "

Bella quirked a brow. "Toe-sicles?" she repeated unsurely.

"They're frozen, and they certainly aren't _pop_ sicles," Danielle stated matter-of-factly. "Therefore, they are now _toe_ -sicles."

Bella snort with amusement and shook her head. "I think I'm starting to understand why your mom said you weren't normal," she commented jokingly.

"Ha _ha_ ," Danielle responded sarcastically.

Bella suddenly looked at something behind Danielle, her brows raising in what seemed like surprise. She looked back at Danielle, gave her a meaningful look, then pointedly looked back at whatever she had seen. Danielle was sure she was trying to silently convey something to her, but she didn't know what. Frowning, she started to ask Bella what was wrong with her. Before she could, however, a new voice beat her to the punch.

"Good morning, Danielle," said a deep, smooth, very familiar voice.

Danielle whipped around so quickly, she almost slipped on the wet ground. Jasper was standing a few feet away, his backpack hanging from his shoulder and his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He smiled at her politely, his amber eyes locked on her. He looked incredible, and it momentarily rid her of coherent thought.

"Jasper," Danielle said, wondering why she suddenly sounded so breathless. "Hey. How are you?"

Jasper nodded once. "I'm fine, thanks for asking," he said. He glanced at Bella, who was pretending to be interested in the contents of her backpack, but was actually discreetly watching them from the corner of her eye. He looked back to Danielle, then raised his brows. "I was thinking we could walk to class together…if Bella doesn't mind, of course," he added as an afterthought.

She felt instantly happy, her previous worries about Rosalie ruining their budding friendship quickly fading away. Danielle looked at Bella, who told her to go with a silent wave. Danielle then smiled at Jasper and nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. That'd be great," she quickly agreed.

Jasper seemed pleased that she had said yes. "After you, then," he said, motioning her along with a grand sweep of his arm.

Danielle shifted her backpack on her shoulder, said goodbye to Bella, then started making her way across the parking lot with Jasper. She snuck a look over at him, one hand reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. Jasper glanced down at her, the corner if his mouth turning upward. When they'd been around each other the day before, he had seemed cautious and guarded and a little bit nervous, but that didn't seem to be the case today. He seemed much more at ease around her, much more relaxed.

"I finished the book," Jasper finally said.

"Already?" Danielle asked in surprise.

Jasper nodded. "I'm a fast reader," he told her.

"Yeah, seems like it," Danielle commented. "So what's the next endeavor then?"

"I was thinking about getting one of those biographies you mentioned," Jasper said, motioning for her to lead the way when their path led them through two cars that had parked very close together, which meant they had to walk single file for a moment.

"Okay," Danielle said, squeezing through the two cars while Jasper trailed behind her. "Just come by the shop this weekend and I'll hook you up," she said, looking back at him with a smile.

Jasper nodded. "Deal."

Danielle grinned, then turned her eyes forward as she squeezed between the two cars. Almost immediately, she spotted the lunch group hanging out by Mike's car, which was only a couple of spaces over. Mike, Angela, Jessica, and Eric were all standing around chatting, and though they didn't notice her at first, Eric soon looked over and spotted her.

"Danielle! Hey!" he called, waving to her enthusiastically.

Danielle waved back, but didn't make any move to join them as she waited for Jasper to catch up.

"Come here!" Angela called with a smile. "Come hang out!"

But then Jasper was by her side again, and in an instant the group realized they were together. Angela and Jessica shared a look, while the guys stared at the both of them with shock. Danielle looked up at Jasper, who raised his brows at her, then smiled at the group.

"See you guys at lunch," Danielle called.

Angela was the one to respond. "Yeah. See ya," she said.

Danielle and Jasper kept walking, slowly making their way closer to the school. A number of students were staring at them now, most of them whispering to each other as they watched the two pass by. Danielle didn't really care, though. She was far more interested in Jasper and the fact that he was close enough for her to smell that wonderful, piney scent on his clothes again.

"You can go be with your friends if you want to," Jasper told her after a moment or two, his expression a bit difficult to read. "I'd understand if you'd rather be with them."

Danielle immediately shook her head. She wasn't going _anywhere._ "I'm fine right where I am," she reassured him.

Something flashed through Jasper's eyes when she said that, and a smile immediately spread across his face. Danielle smiled back, practically able to feel how pleased Jasper was to know that she preferred to spend time with _him_.

Jasper finally looked forward, then frowned a bit when he spotted something in the distance. "Let's go this way," he said, motioning for her to veer off to the left.

Danielle looked at him in confusion, but did as he had suggested. Her eyes swept the parking lot as they walked, searching for whatever had made Jasper want to change direction, until she finally spotted them. All of Jasper's siblings were hanging out on the far side of the lot, not far from the stairs that led up to the school. Emmett and Alice were looking at her and Jasper with interest, while Rosalie, unsurprisingly, had her arms crossed tightly over her chest and was glaring straight at her. As for Edward, he didn't seem to care that Danielle and Jasper were together. He was staring at something in the distance – when she followed his gaze, she was not surprised to see that he was watching Bella, who was still by her truck on the other side of the lot.

"Any reason we're avoiding your family?" she asked knowingly.

"Several, actually," Jasper answered.

Danielle quirked a brow at the vague answer and started to ask if he cared to elaborate on that one.

But she never got the chance. Because in the next moment, a loud, horrible squealing sound filled the parking lot, bringing everything to a standstill. Danielle and Jasper paused and turned around, both frowning with confusion, but it didn't take long to find out what the source of the commotion was.

A van had hit a patch of ice and had lost control – the loud squealing sound was the sound of its tires skidding across the wet, icy pavement as it careened across the parking lot.

Danielle's heart fell into her stomach, watching with growing alarm as people screamed and ran out of the way of the out of control van, fleeing for safety. It was all happening so fast. Someone was going to get hit. Someone was going to _hurt_.

That was when she saw what laid in the path of the van. It was headed right toward a red truck parked by the curb on the far side of the lot. It was headed straight for _Bella's_ truck. And Bella, she saw with complete horror, was still there. Standing right by her truck. Watching with terror as the van careened in her direction. Frozen in place.

She was going to be crushed. She was going to be _killed._

"Oh my God," Danielle said, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it might explode through her ribs. She didn't think. She just started running. She couldn't just stand there while her friend died. She had to do _something._ "Bella!" she screamed. " _BELLA!"_

But it was too late. The squealing continued, so loud it was almost deafening. More people screamed as they realized exactly what was about to happen. Then the van collided with Bella's truck with a resounding _BOOM._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and for the bookmarks! Hope you're all enjoying the story!


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's.

_Chapter Four_

_Bella was dead._

That was the only thought that raced through Danielle's mind as she sprinted through the cars in the school parking lot, running as fast as she could toward the site of the crash. Other students were running that way, too, but Danielle barely noticed. _Bella was dead_. She had to be. _No one_ would have survived a collision like that. _Bella was **dead.**_

She ran until she was about twenty feet away from the wreck, then was forced to a halt when she found herself blocked by the large cluster of students crowding around the van and truck. Danielle tried to push her way through so she could get closer, tried to find an opening within the mob of frightened teenagers, but everyone else was just as desperate to see what had happened to Bella as she was. Nobody moved, and Danielle's attempts to get closer were being ignored.

Growling with frustration and feeling beside herself with concern for her friend, Danielle took a step back and looked around, trying to find another way around the crowd.

But then she saw something that made her do a double take, and for just one second, Danielle forgot about trying to find her way to Bella. There was a guy with bronze colored hair walking away from the site of the crash. He raked a hand through his hair as he looked back at the van that had just hit Bella's truck, then quickly walked away, breathing hard and looking more than a little on edge.

_Edward._

Danielle frowned deeply with confusion, watching as he hurried away, keeping his head down as if purposefully trying not to draw attention to himself. Edward had been on the _other_ side of the parking lot. She knew this with complete certainty because she had seen him standing next to the Cullen's car with her own two eyes. But now he was _there_ , walking away from the crash.

How had he gotten there so fast? How, when Danielle had been closer and running as fast as she could, had he been able to beat her to the crash site? And how had she not seen him running past her?

Danielle looked back to where she had last seen the Cullen's. Emmett, Alice, and Rosalie were not looking at the crashed van – they were watching Edward walk away, their expressions varying from disbelief to anger. Why were they looking at him like that? Then Danielle turned her gaze to Jasper, whom she had forgotten about in her desperate race to get to Bella. He stood rooted to the spot in the exact place she had left him. He didn't seem calm or relaxed anymore. He was looking at her in a way that was impossible to read, his expression completely guarded.

" _She's alive!"_ someone suddenly shouted, drawing Danielle's attention back to the crash. " _Bella's alive!"_

A cheer of relief rose from the crowd at the announcement. Danielle forgot about the Cullen's and pressed a hand to her heart, which was still pounding away in her chest, and closed her eyes as she sucked in a steadying breath. Bella was _alive_. She had survived the crash. Danielle was hit with such an overwhelming sense of relief that she felt her throat tighten with emotion and her eyes prickle with tears.

Danielle finally pulled herself together, then, without even attempting to be polite about it now, she began to push and elbow her way to the front of the crowd, earning herself a few cries of indignation in the process. When she finally reached the center of the commotion she braced herself, not sure what she was going to see but fully expecting find Bella hurt and bleeding. As soon as she caught sight of her friend, however, she released a gasp of astonishment. Bella was sitting on the ground between the van and her truck, surrounded by a group of students. And though she looked shaky and confused and like she wasn't quite with it, there wasn't even a scratch on her.

Danielle managed to wedge herself between the crowd until she was between the two crashed vehicles. She saw that Mike, Angela, Jessica, and Eric were surrounding Bella, while Tyler, to her surprise, was apologizing to her over and over again through the window of the van that had nearly just killed her, which was obviously _his_ van. He had a gash on his head, but didn't seem to notice.

Danielle began forcing her way through the group that was surrounding Bella. "Bella!" she cried to try to get her attention.

The sound of her voice caught Bella's attention. She looked up, her eyes searching around wildly, until their gazes finally met. "Danielle!" she called back.

Danielle finally reached Bella, and the first thing she did was drop down and wrap her friend up in a hard hug, unable to believe that she was hugging her when she had been convinced that she had been dead mere moments ago. Bella hugged her back just as tightly.

"Are you okay?" Danielle asked, pulling back and holding Bella's shoulders tightly, eyes searching her for any signs of wounds or bleeding. Danielle didn't see anything amiss, but she was still worried. "Go get help!" she shouted at the nearest person, who just so happened to be Mike.

Mike nodded, then, with Eric in tow, they disappeared into the crowd surrounding the vehicles. Angela and Jessica hung back, looking like they didn't know what to do.

"I'm fine, Danielle," Bella insisted. "The truck didn't hit me."

"I don't care. We're not taking any chances," Danielle countered firmly. When Bella made a move to get up, Danielle immediately stopped her. "Stay still until help gets here," she commanded.

Bella heaved, but nodded.

Once she was satisfied that Bella wasn't going anywhere, Danielle finally looked at the two vehicles they were between. It had looked like the van was going to make full contact with the truck when it had been sliding through the parking lot, but it hadn't. Danielle was shocked to see that it didn't even look like the van had _touched_ Bella's truck, save for the back end of it, which had slammed into the bed of the truck and put a significant dent above the rear tire. She also noticed a dent in the side of the van that was directly in front of where Bella sat, though she had no idea whether it had been there before the crash or not.

"Danielle," Bella said quietly, making Danielle look at her again. "Something happened. Something _impossible,"_ she told her. She glanced back at Jessica and Angela for a quick second, then leaned in even closer. "Edward…he…he _saved_ me. He _stopped_ the van," she hissed.

Danielle frowned with confusion. She had seen Edward by the truck, but she thought he had just been trying to see what was going on. How could he have saved her? And how in the _hell_ would he have been able to stop a moving van? That simply wasn't _possible_.

"What do you _mean_ he stopped the van?" Danielle asked skeptically.

"He stuck out his hand and he _stopped it,_ so it wouldn't hit me, _"_ Bella said simply, her eyes turning to the dent in the side of the van.

Danielle didn't know what to say. She looked at the dent, then turned a very concerned look on Bella. Maybe she _had_ hurt herself. Maybe she had bumped her head, or maybe the shock of what had happened was making it hard for her to think straight. "Bella, are you sure you're okay?" she asked with concern. "Did you hit your head or something?"

" _No,"_ Bella said fiercely. "I didn't hit my head!"

"But what you're saying _isn't_ possible," Danielle hissed. "There's _no way_ he could have done that."

Bella just set her lips into a determined frown. "I know what I saw," she said stubbornly.

They didn't get a chance to talk about it any further, because in the next moment a few teachers emerged from the crowd and immediately rushed to Bella's side. They soon instructed Danielle, as well as the rest of the students, to back up and move away from the crash. Danielle did as she was told, then went to stand off to the side with the lunch group while the teachers stayed with Bella and Tyler and began checking to make sure they were alright.

It was a blur of activity after that. Paramedics arrived quickly and immediately rushed toward the crash, ready to jump into action if anyone was hurt. Not very long after, a few cop cars arrived on the scene, and within a matter of minutes the cops had set up a perimeter to keep onlooking students out of the way. By now, most of the school had heard what was going on and was crowded in the parking lot as they watched the drama unfold. Danielle continued to stand with the lunch group, watching everything from a distance.

Eventually the paramedics decided that both Bella and Tyler needed further evaluation at the hospital, just to make absolutely sure everything was okay. Tyler agreed without fuss, but Bella insisted that she was fine and that going to the hospital wasn't necessary. Finally, after receiving a long talk from both the principal and the paramedics, she begrudgingly agreed to go and allowed herself to be loaded into an ambulance. Danielle watched the ambulance pull out of the parking lot and head off down the road, sighing heavily to herself.

"Hey," Mike said, touching her arm to grab her attention. "A few of us are gonna head to the hospital to see what the doctors say about Bella and Tyler," he told her. "You wanna come?"

Danielle immediately nodded. "Yeah. I'm in," she readily agreed.

She glanced one last time in the direction the ambulance had gone, then followed Mike, Angela, Jessica, and Eric to Mike's car. When they reached the car, Mike and Eric took the front two seats, while Angela and Jessica slid into the backseat. Danielle started to join the other girls in the back, but paused when her eyes landed on the Cullen's, who were still standing on the far side of the lot. Jasper had rejoined his siblings by their car, and the four of them looked to be having a very heated discussion.

Jasper suddenly looked over at her, and for a moment they just stared at one another.

"C'mon, Danielle!" Mike said urgently. "Let's go!"

Danielle finally pulled her gaze from Jasper's and climbed into the back seat of Mike's car. Then they headed for the hospital.

* * *

Danielle sat in the waiting room of the E.R., her arms crossed tightly over her chest and her foot tapping impatiently against the tile floor. Angela sat on her left, while Mike sat on her right – Eric and Jessica sat in the chairs adjacent to theirs. They had been there for nearly twenty minutes now, and though they had been trying to get at least _some_ information out of any nurse they laid eyes on, they still didn't know what exactly was going on with Bella and Tyler.

Danielle heaved and shifted in her chair, glancing first at the television, which was playing a daytime show she'd never heard of, then letting her eyes wander around the room. Only a few other people were there, obviously waiting for friends or loved ones being tended to beyond the door that the nurses continued to stream in and out of. All of them looked exactly how she felt in that moment – stressed, worried, and ready to get the _hell_ out of the waiting room.

But Danielle was feeling something else, as well. _Confusion._ Because she kept thinking about what Bella had said, and the more she thought about it, the less sense it made.

_Edward stopped the van_ , Bella's voice echoed in her head. _He stuck out his hand and **stopped** it._

No matter which angle she looked at it from, the bottom line was that it just wasn't _possible_. Nobody, not the strongest man in the world and _certainly_ not Edward Cullen, would be able to stop a moving van with their bare hands. The only person _she_ could think of who would be able to pull off something like that was Superman, and though she didn't know Edward well, she'd be willing to bet a very large sum of money that he was _not_ a super-alien from planet Krypton. Maybe he had _protected_ Bella. Maybe he had pulled her out of the way enough to where she _wouldn't_ get crushed. But stop an out of control vehicle with just his _hands?_

There was no freaking way.

Yet, she supposed that brought up a whole new question, didn't it? If Edward _had_ saved Bella, if he _had_ been there to protect her from the van, then how in the _hell_ had he gotten to her so fast? No more than a few seconds could have passed between when she had spotted him with his siblings and when the van had lost control, and the two had been on completely different sides of the parking lot from each other. How had he left his spot with his siblings, run all the way to Bella's truck, and saved her from certain death, all within a few moment's time and all without Danielle _ever_ seeing him?

Danielle heaved, then reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. She had no idea what to make of all this. It didn't make a lick of sense.

"It's alright," Mike said, patting her arm reassuringly, obviously mistaking her confusion for concern. "I'm sure they're fine."

Danielle just forced on a smile and nodded.

The sound of the automatic doors at the entrance of the waiting room sliding open a moment later caught her attention. She glanced over just as a tall man in a police uniform came storming in, looking borderline frantic. Danielle immediately recognized him.

"Chief Swan!" she said, jumping to her feet and hurrying in his direction.

Charlie whipped around to face her, his eyes wild with concern. When he saw her coming toward him, he gulped. "I heard what happened. I got here as fast as I could," he said in a rush. "Bella...is she – ?"

"They're looking at her now," Danielle told him. "But I was with her after it happened. She seemed alright. She didn't look hurt and she was alert," she quickly reassured him. "We've been waiting to hear more, but nobody's told us anything yet," Danielle concluded with a shrug.

Charlie seemed relieved to hear it. He let out a massive breath, nodded, then turned to the nearest nurse. "Where's my daughter?" he asked, using his most authoritative cop voice.

A nearby nurse jumped and looked at Charlie with wide eyes, then quickly motioned toward the door that lead further into the E.R. "She's right through there, sir."

Charlie gave Danielle a pat on the shoulder, then went straight through the doors without waiting to be invited. Once he was gone, Danielle sighed and turned back to her friends, who had been watching the scene with interest. Before she had a chance to rejoin them, the cell phone in her pocket began to ring. Danielle reached for it and saw that it was her mother calling.

"I'll be right back, guys," she said to her friends.

After they nodded, she walked out of the main waiting room and stepped into a hall that branched off to another part of the hospital. There were no other people there, and once she was alone, she answered her phone.

"Hey, Mom," she greeted, leaning back against the white wall of the hallway.

"Why did I just get a call from the school saying that you didn't show up for your first class?" Lynne demanded to know, not even bothering to greet her properly. "Are you skipping class?"

Danielle winced. "Technically? Yes," she admitted. Lynne immediately made a sound of indignation. "But before you get mad, just know I wouldn't be doing it unless I had a good reason," Danielle quickly interjected before her mother could go off on a tirade.

"Oh yeah? And what reason is _that,_ Danielle Katherine Clark? _"_ Lynne shot back, her words dripping with disapproval.

Danielle winced. If her mother was using her full name, that definitely meant she was in trouble. "I'm at the hospital," she told her.

Lynne, who clearly had not been expecting that answer, sputtered on her end of the line. "Wait, _what_?" she asked, sounding scared now. "What happened? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked in a rush.

"I'm fine, Mom," Danielle quickly assured her, which made Lynne breathe easier. "There was an accident at school. Bella had a really close call when a van lost control and almost hit her. The paramedics brought her and the other kid involved here to make sure they're okay, so a few of us skipped class and have been waiting to hear what the final diagnosis is," she quickly explained.

"Oh dear, I hope they're both okay!" Lynne said with worry.

"Me too," Danielle agreed with a sigh.

Lynne said something else after that, but Danielle didn't hear her. Because at that exact moment, a door a little further down the hallway, which seemed to be another side entrance to the hospital, opened and someone stepped into sight. It was Edward, and as soon as he saw her standing there, he froze. Danielle frowned. What was he doing there? Had he come to check on Bella too?

"Did you hear me, Dani?" Lynne suddenly demanded in her ear.

"Sorry. What?" Danielle asked, distracted, her eyes locked on Edward. She had thought he would go to the waiting room to try to figure out what was going on with Bella, but he hadn't taken so much as a step in that direction. In fact, he was looking back and forth between her and the door with uncertainty, as if he was trying to decide if he should stay or not.

"How long are you going to be there for?" Lynne repeated.

"I dunno," Danielle answered. "It just depends on how long it takes for them to finish evaluating Bella and Tyler."

"Okay. I'll call the school and let them know what's going on," Lynne told her. "You _are_ going back to school, right?"

"Yeah, just as soon as we're done here," Danielle promised.

"Good."

"Hey, Mom? I should probably go," she said, still watching Edward from a distance. "I wanna be there when they finally release Bella."

"Okay, sweetie," Lynne said understandingly. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

Danielle ended the call and shoved the phone back into her pocket. She pushed away from the wall and gave Edward a long look, suddenly feeling the urge to go and try to get _some_ sort of explanation for what had happened at the school. But was it something she should bring up? Would he even be willing to talk to her about it? After all, they didn't even _know_ each other.

Edward suddenly frowned, then turned on his heel to leave. Danielle made up her mind in a flash and darted after him, determined to speak with him while she had the chance.

"Hey, Cullen!" she called.

Edward stopped with his hand on the door, but he didn't make any move to open it. Danielle jogged to catch up to him, and when she was only a few feet away, he slowly turned back around to face. Danielle stopped once they were face to face, noticing that even though he was giving her a polite smile, it seemed forced.

"Hello," he greeted. "I don't believe we've met. I'm – "

Danielle quirked a brow. "I know who you are," she interrupted. "And _you_ know who _I_ am."

Edward's eyebrows shot up. "Okay," he said slowly, seemingly caught off guard. "Is there something I can help you with then?"

She pressed her lips together, unsure where to start. "Is it true?" she asked. "Did you save Bella's life?"

Edward didn't answer at first, but then he shrugged modestly. "I suppose I did," he answered. The confirmation made Danielle's eyes narrow as she stared at him with scrutiny. Edward lifted a brow at her again, his expression puzzled. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked. "Aren't you _glad_ that I saved your friend?"

"Of course I am," Danielle retorted sharply. "But there's a few things about this scenario that don't add up, and I'm having a _very_ hard time wrapping my head around it all," she added.

"Like what?" he asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Well, for starters, you were nowhere _near_ Bella when Tyler's van went out of control," Danielle stated matter-of-factly. "I saw you when Jasper and I were walking across the parking lot. You were on the complete opposite side from where Bella was."

Edward shrugged. "So?"

Danielle felt a surge of impatience at his aloofness. " _So_ ," she said more forcefully than she had really meant to, "just how the hell did you get from one end of the lot to the other in only a few seconds?" she questioned.

"I'm a fast runner," Edward said simply.

Danielle snorted. "I am too. But even though I was closer and running as fast as I could, you _still_ beat me there by landslide," she pointed out. "So, I ask again – _how?_ "

Edward sighed and shifted on his feet, his expression beginning to show some impatience. "Look, maybe you _did_ see me on the other side of the lot. But what you _didn't_ see was that I had already started making my way across the parking lot _before_ the van lost control," he explained with a nod. "I was going to talk to Bella when I saw the van skidding all over the place. I was afraid Bella would be in danger, so I ran to try to help her. Even _I'm_ shocked that I was able to get to her so fast," he insisted.

Edward didn't sound like he was lying, but Danielle still wasn't sure she believed him. Granted, she had been paying a lot more attention to Jasper at the time, but she felt like she would have noticed if Edward _had_ decided to go and speak to Bella. And even if what he was saying was true, that didn't change the fact that he had _still_ been pretty far away from her. She just couldn't see how he could have gotten close enough in just a few moment's time to actually make his story possible.

"So then what about what Bella told me you did to save her?" Danielle asked, her arms crossing over her chest defiantly.

Edward's expression turned to one that she couldn't quite decipher. "What did she tell you I did?" he asked calmly.

"She told me you stopped the van," she stated. " _With your hand,"_ she added pointedly.

Edward went quiet for a moment, then he laughed loudly and shook his head. "Come on, Danielle," he said with exasperation. "Stopped a van with my _hand_? Do you even hear yourself right now? How could that possibly be true?"

Danielle _did_ sort of feel a bit silly now that she had said it out loud, but she jutted her chin up regardless, determined to get to the bottom of things. "You tell me."

Edward shook his head again, a smirk of amusement still on his lips. "Danielle. I did _not_ stop a van with my _hand_ ," he said firmly.

"Then why did Bella tell me you did?" she asked.

"She must have been confused," Edward reasoned with a shrug. "When I reached her, I pulled her out of the way as best as I could and threw a hand up out of reflex. It all happened really fast and it was all very confusing – maybe she just mistook my actions for something they weren't," he explained.

It made sense, she supposed, but it still didn't answer the one glaring question left. "So then how did the van not crush her?" she asked. "I saw the way it was moving. It was sliding sideways and looked like it was going to completely connect with the truck," she told him. "But when I saw the van afterward, only _part_ of it had hit the truck. It looked like something – or _someone_ – had stopped it right in its tracks."

Edward sighed now, as if he was getting tired of explaining himself. "I thought it was going to be a full on hit, too, but it changed directions at the last second," he told her. "Only the back end hit it, which is why _neither_ of us got crushed. Had we been a few feet over, well…this whole thing would have ended quite differently," he said with a frown.

Danielle gave him a long look as she considered everything he had told her. He'd had answers for every single one of her questions, and though there were maybe a few details that still didn't quite make sense, she supposed there was no choice but to accept that Edward was telling her the truth. Maybe Edward _had_ been on his way to talk to Bella, only she'd been so distracted by Jasper that she hadn't seen him. Maybe he _was_ a ridiculously fast runner. Maybe when Bella saw Edward throw his hand up out if reflex it had made her believe she was seeing something that she wasn't. And maybe Bella was wrong – Edward hadn't stopped the van, the van had merely hit the truck in just the right way that it stopped before it could hurt Bella, just as Edward had told her.

It was a whole lot of maybes. But it made a hell of a lot more sense than the _other_ option, the other option being that Edward was a super human who possessed the powers of both super speed and super strength.

Danielle finally sighed and gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry for the twenty questions," she finally said, her tone much calmer now. "I didn't mean to come off as rude or anything. I was just…"

Danielle trailed off and shrugged, but Edward still seemed to understand what she was trying to say. He nodded and flashed a small smile. "You're worried about your friend and want to know what happened. I get it," he said understandingly.

Danielle smiled, feeling relieved that he wasn't put off by her behavior. "Let's try this again," she suggested, before extending her hand toward him. "I'm Danielle Clark."

Edward shook her hand. It was ice cold, just like Jasper's and just like Emmett's. She momentarily thought it odd that they all had such cold hands, but then she remembered that Forks was freezing cold and quickly chalked their chilly hands up to the local temperature. "Edward Cullen," he introduced himself. "I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you in person."

Danielle's eyebrows shot up. Who had been talking about her with Edward? "You've heard about me? From who?" she had to ask.

Edward had a little smirk playing at the corner of his mouth as he shrugged. "People around school…and from my brother," he told her, that smirk never budging an inch.

Danielle tried to ignore the way her stomach flipped at the word _'brother'_. Was it Emmett he was referring to, or was it Jasper? The thought that Jasper would be talking about her with his brother made her heart beat just a tick faster. It also made her _desperately_ want to know what he had said, and whether or not it had been good.

Edward's smirk grew as those thoughts flew through her head, though she wasn't sure why. She perked up as he opened his mouth to say something else, hoping very much that he was going to elaborate on what he had just said. Before he could get another word out, however, the door that Edward had entered through opened again to reveal another Cullen. Danielle stiffened at once. It was Rosalie, and the beautiful blonde gave her a glare of dislike before turning a look on Edward.

"What's going on here?" she asked. Her voice might have sounded pretty, if not for the anger and suspicion in her tone.

"Nothing," Edward answered smoothly. "We were just talking."

Danielle eyed the two, feeling more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. Finally she decided it was probably time to return to her friends in the waiting room.

"I think I'm, uh…gonna go now," she said, eyeing Rosalie with obvious wariness. "I'll see you around."

She didn't wait for Edward to say anything back before quickly turning on her heel and heading back for the waiting room. She could feel eyes on her back the entire way, and when she chanced a look over her shoulder, she was not at all surprised that both Edward and Rosalie were watching her walk away. Just before she reentered the waiting room, she saw Rosalie turn on Edward with a scowl that would have made anyone quiver in their shoes. Danielle gulped and shook her head, before quickening her pace.

Rosalie was one scary chick, she decided. And though she felt bad for Edward for having to endure whatever wrath she looked like she was about to unleash on him, Danielle was glad as all hell that _she_ wasn't the one in his shoes right then.

* * *

Danielle and her friends loitered around in the waiting room for nearly another half hour while they continued to wait for news on Bella and Tyler. Despite the fact that he was there in the hospital, Edward never actually came into the waiting room. Whether that was because he didn't want to draw attention to himself or because Rosalie was still giving him an earful, Danielle didn't know – either way, she chose not to mention the fact that he was there to any of her friends.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Bella and her father emerged from the patient area. The moment Bella was in sight the group jumped up and rushed over to find out what the doctor had said. They were quickly informed that though Bella was still shaken up and Tyler had sustained a few bumps and cuts, the doctor had not found anything significantly wrong with either of them. They were both fine to leave the hospital and go on with their day. It was a relief, to say the least, and they all took turns hugging Bella as they celebrated the fact that nobody hadn't been seriously injured in the accident.

Bella's father eventually broke up the celebration, telling them politely, yet _firmly_ , that he needed to get Bella home and that they all needed to get back to school. Apparently even though Bella was uninjured, her near-death experience had earned her a day of rest at home. Danielle and the group nodded their understanding, said their goodbye's, then finally left the hospital so that they could go back to school.

They were back at Forks High just as second period was ending. Danielle hurried to her locker, grabbed her books for her next two classes, then continued on to her third period history class. Emmett sat straighter when she walked in, watching her with expectant eyes as she made her way to her seat. As soon as she sat down, he leaned closer to speak to her.

"How's Bella?" he asked. She noticed that he wasn't the only one who seemed curious to know, either – several students sitting nearby turned to look as well, eager for any news about the accident.

"She's fine," Danielle answered with a nod. "Tyler, too. They both went home for the day, though."

Emmett nodded in understanding, while the other students listening in turned forward again, obviously no longer interested in what she had to say now that they'd heard that Bella and Tyler were fine. "That's good. That wreck, man…it was crazy," he commented with a shake of his head and a low whistle.

"I know," Danielle agreed. "Lucky your brother was able to help," she added with a nod.

Emmett gave her a long look after she said that. "You saw Edward save Bella?" he asked in a neutral tone.

Danielle shrugged. "Well, I mean…I didn't see it for myself because I was too far away. But I talked to Edward at the hospital and got the story of what happened," she told him with a nod.

Emmett's brows raised a hair. "You talked to Edward?" he asked next, sounding a bit surprised.

Danielle frowned a bit. Why was Emmett acting so odd? "Yeah. Is that…a bad thing?" she asked unsurely.

"No," Emmett quickly said, his expression easing. "What did Edward say about the wreck?"

Danielle _could_ have told him about the weird things Bella had said, and she _could_ have told him about all the crazy questions she'd peppered Edward with. But, in the end, she decided not to. She'd already made herself look weird in front of _one_ Cullen today, and she didn't particularly want to do it again.

"He said he was already going to talk to Bella when Tyler's van lost control. He ran over as fast as he could to help her and tried to pull her away once he was close enough. With the way the van hit the truck, it only barely missed her. If Edward hadn't pulled her out of the way, she probably would've been in serious trouble," she relayed, shaking her head as she thought about the _way_ too close call. "So like I said. It's a good thing your brother was able to get to her."

Emmett nodded, then smirked, looking a bit more like his usual self now. "Edward always was a really fast runner," he said with a nod. "We always told him he should've trained for the Olympics." Emmett's smirk soon turned into a small smile of relief. "I'm glad your friends aren't hurt," he told her seriously. "And I'm _really_ glad that you were with Jasper when the van hit, and _not_ with Bella," he admitted.

Danielle smiled, then sighed a bit as she thought about Jasper. She hadn't meant to just run off without saying anything to him, but it had been a chaotic moment and she hadn't really been thinking straight. "I hope he isn't upset with me for ditching him," she said, even though she'd had a very good reason for doing so.

Emmett immediately shook his head. "He's not, trust me," he said reassuringly.

Danielle just nodded and gave him a grateful smile.

History passed quickly, and once the class was over, she said goodbye to Emmett and continued on to Spanish. When she reached the classroom and slid into her usual seat, her eyes immediately turned to the empty desk next to her. It was weird, being there now while Bella was at home trying to get over the shock of her near death experience. Danielle frowned and sighed heavily, then opened her textbook when the bell rang and the teacher started the lesson for the day. She decided right then and there that she was going to go and speak to Bella after school, just to check in with her and make sure she was doing alright.

Before she knew it, it was lunchtime. When she walked into the cafeteria, she habitually looked toward the table that the Cullen's always sat at. Neither Edward, nor Rosalie, was there, but Jasper, Emmett, and Alice were. Almost as if he could sense that she had arrived, Jasper immediately looked in her direction.

Danielle smiled at him and waved, then turned to start toward the lunch line, just as she usually did. But then Jasper, who normally stayed seated at his usual table with his siblings, started getting up, making her freeze on the spot. He grabbed his things, said a few words to Emmett and Alice, then started walking toward her. Danielle blinked in surprise, then quickly tucked her hair behind her ear as butterflies began to flap around in her belly.

Jasper gave her a half-smile as he approached. "Hello," he said once he was standing in front of her.

"Hey," she said back.

"How are you?" Jasper asked, his eyes searching her face. "Are you alright?"

Danielle smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," she told him. "It was a stressful morning, but…it's all good now."

"Good," Jasper said, nodding. "I heard Bella and Tyler are both okay," he said. "I was glad to hear it."

"Yeah, me too," Danielle agreed. She paused, then frowned with apology. "I'm sorry I ditched you this morning," she apologized, and she really, truly meant it. "Everything just happened so fast, and the Bella thing scared me half to death," she quickly explained.

Jasper held up a hand to silence her. "It's fine, Danielle," he said. The sound of her name on his lips made her nerves zing with awareness. "You were worried about your friends. I completely understand," he said with a small smile.

Even though Emmett had told her that he didn't think Jasper would upset, to hear Jasper confirm it himself made her breathe much easier. "Thank you for understanding."

Jasper nodded. "Of course." He looked at her for a moment, then glanced toward the lunch line. "Were you going to get food?" he asked.

Danielle remembered what she had originally been doing, then nodded. "Yeah, I was." She looked at him, noticed his lack of lunch, then tilted her head curiously. "It doesn't look like you've eaten either," she commented. "Do you wanna go grab a bite?"

Jasper thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Sure."

Danielle smiled, then, together, they headed for the lunch line. When they got in line, Danielle noticed that they were standing behind two girls who looked like they might have been freshmen. Both of them glanced at her, glanced at Jasper, then did a double take and gave Jasper a _much_ longer look. Though Jasper didn't seem to notice – or maybe he _did_ notice, but just didn't care – Danielle couldn't help but quirk a brow at both of the girls. They were eyeing him like he was a piece of meat, and she didn't really like that.

"So," Jasper said, drawing her attention back to him. "Since you missed first and second period, I went ahead and took some notes for you," he said, shuffling through his things for a second until he could pull out a few papers from one of his folders.

Danielle forgot all about the girls who had been eyeing Jasper and raised her brows at him as he handed the papers to her. "You took notes for me?" she asked, dumbfounded. Jasper nodded in confirmation. "Wow. Thank you, Jasper," she said, smiling brightly. When he just waved her off, as if to say it was nothing, she shook her head. "No, seriously. Thank you. That's a huge help," she insisted.

Jasper finally smiled. She thought he looked a bit pleased with himself. "You're welcome."

Danielle glanced over the notes, noting how neat and tidy his handwriting was, then shoved them into one of her folders. "Did I miss anything important?" she asked.

"Not really," he said with a shrug. "We do have a test in Calculus on Friday, though."

Danielle couldn't help but groan with dread, which earned her a questioning look from Jasper. "I _hate_ math," she told him. "It's always been my worst subject. It doesn't help that I'm behind in the school work, either, since I've only been here a few days," she added. "If I want any hope of passing this test, I'm gonna have to study my rear end off," she said with a defeated sigh.

Jasper made a thoughtful sound at that, his brows furrowing pensively. They moved forward in line, silence falling between them for a few seconds. Finally, Jasper seemed to come to a decision about something. "Well, as it so happens, I'm _very_ good at Calculus," he told her. "If you need someone to tutor you or help you study for the test, I could do it," he offered.

Danielle was caught completely off guard by Jasper's offer to tutor her. She liked the idea of spending extra time with him, though, and couldn't help but smile at the thought. "You would do that for me?" she asked.

Jasper nodded and gave her another half-smile. "Yes, I would."

"Okay," Danielle immediately agreed. "When should we study then?"

"Why not start right now, while we're at lunch?" he suggested. "We could go over what you missed in class. I could start catching you up on what we were working on before you came to Forks, too." But then he paused and frowned, his eyes glancing toward the table she usually sat at. "Unless you'd rather eat with your friends. It can wait, if you want," he said, giving her the option to say no if she wasn't feeling up for it.

The thought of having lunch with Jasper – _just_ Jasper – was too appealing to refuse. "I'm fine with studying right now," she told him with a nod. "I don't have my book, though."

"That's okay. I still have mine," he reassured her, motioning to the textbooks he held with his right arm.

Danielle smiled and nodded, then turned forward again as they continued further up the line. She couldn't help but think that this day was beginning to take a turn for the better.

She and Jasper made their way through the lunch line, grabbing two trays once they were at the front and then picking out food to have for lunch. When they passed the fruit section, Danielle started to reach for an apple that caught her eye. Jasper seemed to have the same idea, because he reached for it at the exact same time. Their fingers brushed together, catching them both by surprise. Danielle looked at Jasper and blushed, while he just pressed his lips together, his eyes locked on her. He then pulled his hand back, before motioning for her take the apple. Still blushing, Danielle put the apple on her tray and continued on.

After they paid for their food, they took a moment to look for an empty table. They finally found one in the corner and quickly went to claim it. As they set their books and their trays on the table and sat down next to each other, Danielle noticed that just about every single person in the cafeteria was staring at them in shock. Even Emmett and Alice were looking at their brother in surprise, before sharing a meaningful look with each other.

It was easy to ignore the staring once Jasper opened up his text book and started going over what had been covered in class that day. It was not easy, however, to completely focus on what Jasper was telling her. She found herself focusing more just on Jasper himself. She liked the smooth, soothing tenor of his voice. She liked how the green button-down shirt he was wearing made his amber colored eyes pop even more than usual. And she _really_ liked the serious, studious expression on his face as he went over the day's lesson. Danielle didn't know how he managed it, but somehow he got more and more handsome every time she looked at him.

Jasper eventually looked at her and raised his brows, as if he could tell she wasn't paying as much attention as she should've been. Danielle managed to pull herself together after that and forced herself to focus on what Jasper was actually trying to teach her – she needed to learn what would be on the test, and she couldn't learn if she was too busy thinking about how good Jasper looked, could she? She followed along with him, working on problems from the book and asking questions here or there. Thankfully, Jasper was very patient and explained anything she didn't understand, and he _didn't_ make her feel like an idiot if she didn't get things on the first try.

She was so focused on what they were doing that she didn't realize how much time had passed. When the bell rang overhead, she looked around in surprise before sighing and giving Jasper a smile.

"Guess that concludes the lesson for the day," she said.

Jasper nodded. "Guess so."

They both collected their things, then stood up to throw their trash away. When Danielle saw Jasper's tray, she frowned at realizing it was still full of food. "You barely touched your food," she said, suddenly feeling guilty – he'd been so busy tutoring her, he hadn't had time to eat.

"Don't worry about it," Jasper said, and for some reason her guilt quickly melted away. "I had a huge breakfast, so I wasn't that hungry anyway."

Danielle pursed her lips, then shrugged. "Alright, if you say so."

They carried their trays to the trashcans and dumped them, though Jasper kept his apple when Danielle insisted he keep it for a snack in case he got hungry later on. After that they left the cafeteria, and though she had thought he might say goodbye and head off to his own class, he walked with her all the way to her locker. Danielle found that she didn't mind it one bit.

"What do you have next?" he asked curiously as she rifled around in her locker.

"Physics," she answered. "You?"

"History," he answered.

Danielle nodded.

Jasper looked at her for a moment, then tilted his head curiously. "I was wondering…how do you plan to get home?" he asked.

Danielle frowned at the question. It hadn't really clicked until that moment that she didn't have a ride home anymore. Bella had gone home with her father, and since Bella's truck hadn't been in the parking lot when she had come back from the hospital, Danielle could only assume that it had been towed back to the Swan house.

"Actually…I don't know," she admitted. "It's too far and too cold to walk home, but I'd hate to burden someone else by asking for a ride," she mused aloud. She thought about it for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "You know what? I'll probably just walk to my mom's bookshop," Danielle told him with a nod. "It's not that far from here. I can just hang out there until the shop closes and go home with her."

Jasper nodded, then reached up to rub the back of his neck. He looked nervous all of a sudden. "Maybe I can walk with you," he offered. "If you don't mind the company, that is," he added quickly.

Danielle blinked at him, finding herself thrown for a loop once again. First Jasper had approached her before school, then he'd taken notes for her and tutored her during lunch, and now he wanted to walk her to her mother's bookshop? She wasn't entirely sure why he was going out of his way to spend so much time with her today, but she certainly wasn't going to complain about it. As hard as she had been trying to keep her rapidly shifting feelings for him in check, she couldn't deny that the more time she spent around Jasper, the more she _liked_ being around him.

"Are you sure? I mean…you don't _have_ to," she said before she could stop herself. _Idiot!,_ she scolded herself internally. _Why didn't you just say **yes**?_

"I know I don't _have_ to," Jasper said. "I _want_ to," he told her seriously, his gaze holding hers intently.

The way he was looking at her made her breath catch in her throat. It took a second, but she finally managed to get her voice to work again. "Yeah, okay. That would be nice."

Jasper smiled and nodded, looking pleased that she had said yes. "I'll meet you in the parking lot after school then."

Danielle nodded. "Yeah, see you then."

Jasper gave her one last little smile, then finally left. Danielle watched him go before releasing the breath she had been holding and smiling to herself.

* * *

Because she was looking forward to seeing Jasper again after school, her last two classes seemed to drag by extra slow. She began to feel so anxious and so frustrated that she had a hard time focusing on much of anything. When the last bell of the day _finally_ rang, she all but sang with relief and then quickly hurried to meet with Jasper.

He was waiting for her in the parking lot, just as he had said he would. He had been leaning against a tree next to the lot, but quickly straightened to his full height when he caught sight of her.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep," Danielle confirmed.

With that they left the school behind, walking side by side as they started toward her mother's bookshop. It was a silent walk at first – Danielle simply didn't know what to say to him, and Jasper didn't seem to be in a rush to be the one to break the ice. Finally, when she couldn't stand the silence anymore, she smiled up at him.

"Thank you again for helping me out with calculus," she said. "It was really nice of you."

Jasper inclined his head to her. "You're welcome," he said. "Just so you know, that _wasn't_ just a one-time offer," he told her. "Anytime you need help, all you need to do is ask."

Danielle nodded in understanding. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

Silence fell between them again. They ambled along, Danielle glancing at him every so often and having to resist the urge to smile whenever she caught him doing the same. When they had to pause at an intersection to let some cars pass by, a particularly strong wind whipped past them, making Danielle instantly shiver. It wasn't as freezing as it had been that morning, but it was _still_ pretty damn cold. There was still snow visible in the trees and on the ground, and certain parts of the roads and walkways had spots that looked to still be covered in ice.

Jasper saw her shiver and frowned. "Cold?" he asked.

Danielle shrugged sheepishly. "A bit."

He nodded, then, without saying a word, he took off his schoolbag so that he could remove the winter jacket he wore. To Danielle's immense surprise, he stepped right up to her and placed the jacket on her shoulders, so that it hung around her like a cape. It wasn't as warm as she had thought it might be considering he had just been wearing it, but the extra layer protected her from the wind and instantly made her feel warmer. It smelled just like him, too, which was a _huge_ bonus.

"You won't get cold?" she asked, selfishly hoping he would say no so that she wouldn't have to give him his jacket back just yet.

Jasper waved off her question nonchalantly and shook his head. "No," he said as he fixed the strap of his schoolbag on his shoulder again. "Don't worry about me. I'm so used to the cold now that it doesn't bother me."

Danielle smiled and nodded her understanding. "Well…thank you."

"You're welcome."

They crossed the road once the cars finished going by. Danielle held Jasper's jacket around herself, liking how big it was on her and thoroughly enjoying that wonderful piney scent surrounding her. "It seems you've still got the ' _southern gentleman'_ gene in you," she commented with a smile.

Jasper smirked and shrugged. "You know what they say. You can take the man out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the man."

Danielle laughed. "Spoken like a true Texan," she joked, which made Jasper smile with amusement. Danielle looked up at him and tilted her head curiously. "Do you miss it?" she asked.

"Texas?" Jasper asked. Danielle nodded. He thought about it, then shrugged. "Sometimes I do," he admitted. "But to be honest, when I was in Texas I wasn't in the greatest…situation," he told her, his lips pulling into a tiny frown. He seemed to reflect on something for a moment, then shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts. "The day my parents, Carlisle and Esme, took me in, my life took a drastic change for the better," he told her with a nod. "I might miss certain aspects about the south every now and again, but…I'm happier here. I'm where I'm meant to be now," he concluded.

"Your parents must be very special people," she said with a gentle smile.

Jasper nodded, a fond look entering his eye. "They are," he confirmed.

Danielle started to ask him more about his adoptive parents, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, her foot unexpectedly slipped on a patch of ice that she hadn't noticed. She made a sound of surprise as she lost her balance and started to fall to the ground. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, however, Jasper quickly turned and grabbed both of her arms, holding her steady so that she wouldn't fall to the icy pavement below.

Danielle felt her breath catch in her throat again. They stood face to face, separated only a matter of inches. His hands were holding her securely by the arms, but unlike that first encounter, his grip was not tight enough to hurt or bruise. Danielle gazed up into his amber colored eyes, electricity shooting through her arms at his touch even despite the fact that she had on multiple layers of clothing. She couldn't tell what the expression on his face meant, but as his eyes searched her face, her heart began to thump a bit harder underneath her ribs.

It had been frightening, the last time they had been close to one another like this. But right now, Danielle was _far_ from frightened.

Jasper finally blinked, then gave her a small smile and released her. "You're alright?" he asked, his voice perfectly neutral.

Danielle nodded jerkily and cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

Jasper nodded, and with that they started walking again. The silence that hung around them felt a bit awkward now, and for a few moments, Danielle struggled to come up with something to say to break the ice again. Finally, she readjusted Jasper's jacket and pulled it tightly around herself again, her eyes turning down to her sneakers with dismay.

"I'm _so_ not equipped to deal with weather like this," she commented, shaking her head. "We don't get snow and ice like this down in Houston. This is all new territory for me." She sighed, then laughed a bit. "I have to admit…so far, I'm not really a fan of it."

"You'll get used to it," Jasper reassured her. "Besides, this isn't really even all that bad," he started with a smirk. "This sort of weather is pretty mild compared to where I used to live."

Danielle looked at him curiously. "And where was that?" she asked.

"Alaska," he answered, which made her brows shoot upward.

"Wow," Danielle said with amazement. "I've always wanted to go to Alaska," she admitted. "I always thought it would be so cool up there."

"If by _cool_ you mean absolutely _freezing_ , then yes, it is," Jasper joked, which made Danielle smile in amusement. "It _is_ a beautiful place, though," he told her with a nod.

"Were you sad when you had to leave Alaska and come here?" she asked him next.

Jasper shrugged a shoulder. "Not really," he said. "I didn't really feel attached to Alaska, and I didn't really have any friends, either. So when we left, I didn't feel like I was losing anything important," he explained.

Danielle frowned at hearing that. She knew from word of mouth that Jasper – and _all_ of the Cullen's for that matter – didn't have any friends here in Forks, but it seemed even stranger that he hadn't had any in Alaska, either. Why was he incapable of making friends? Was there something to it, or did Jasper simply not have any _interest_ in making friends?

"Can I ask you something personal?" she asked before she lost her nerve. Jasper quirked a brow at her, but nodded. "Why don't you have any friends here in Forks?"

Jasper seemed like he didn't know how to answer for a moment. Finally, he sighed. "I think part of the reason is because people around here tend to keep their distance from us Cullen's. Everyone seems to think the worst of my family. They say we're weird and stuck up and that we think we're too good to be friends with anyone" he said, giving her a knowing look. "I'm sure you've heard at least _one_ person say something like that since you came here," he stated pointedly.

Danielle cringed, but nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I have," she told him. "Sorry," she said quickly, feeling the need to apologize for the things people said about him and his family.

Jasper just smiled wryly. "It's fine. I'm used to it." Jasper went quiet as they continued along, then looked down at her again. "My lack of friends isn't all just because of that, though," he continued. "If I'm being perfectly honest, I've always been hesitant to get too close to anyone," he admitted. "Maybe it's because of the way I grew up or maybe it's just a self-preservation thing. Either way, it always just seemed like a better idea not to get too friendly with anyone."

Danielle frowned with slight confusion now. "So then why have you been hanging out with _me_?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Jasper looked at her in surprise, clearly not expecting her blunt question. Danielle flushed at once, cursing herself internally for not keeping her big mouth shut. "The truth?" Jasper asked after a moment of hesitation. "You're the first person I've met who actually treats me like I'm… _normal_ ," he admitted. "I enjoy being around you, Danielle," he told her.

Butterflies erupted in her stomach. "You do?" she asked dumbly.

Jasper nodded. "You're genuine, you're nice, and you actually _talk_ to me," he said. "You even defended me when other people said things behind my back, too, which is practically unheard of," he added with a knowing look.

Danielle blushed fiercely, knowing exactly what he was referring to. "You heard about what happened between me and Jessica?"

Jasper smirked and nodded. "It's a small school," he reminded her. "Gossip makes the rounds pretty quick."

Danielle couldn't decide if she should feel embarrassed or not. "She shouldn't have talked about you like that," she finally said with a shrug. "She was judging you without even _knowing_ you. I wasn't just gonna sit there and let her keep saying mean things about you."

Jasper smiled at her, and she could see the appreciation in his eyes. "No one's ever stuck up for me like that, Danielle. I'm grateful to you for defending me." Then Jasper suddenly frowned, his eyes turning elsewhere. "Though if you ask me, I don't deserve it. Not after the way I treated you when we first met," he said, his tone tinged with self-loathing.

Danielle gave him a sharp look. "Hey," she said to make him look back at her. "We already talked about that, remember? I forgave you," she reminded. "So stop beating yourself up about it. It's in the past now."

Jasper smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Alright," he said, though the way he said it hinted that he would _never_ let himself forget what had happened that day.

Their conversation lulled after that, but the silence that surrounded them was not awkward anymore. It was comfortable and relaxed, and as Danielle caught his eye and they shared a quick smile, she felt something shift between them. It felt like they'd come to some sort of understanding about each other, like they understood where this road they had embarked on together was headed. In that moment, she was completely certain that they had officially become friends.

She couldn't help the strong feelings of disappointment that flooded her when they turned a corner and her mother's bookshop came into view. Danielle sighed heavily, already dreading the moment that she would have to say goodbye to Jasper. When she chanced a look up at him, he didn't look too thrilled to see the shop, either.

"Well, this is my stop," she said as they reached the store and came to a halt just outside the front door. "Thank you for walking with me. It was really nice."

Jasper nodded. "Yes, it was."

They stared at each other for a moment, until Danielle finally shrugged off Jasper's coat and handed it back to him. He accepted it with a nod, but didn't move to put it back on right away. "How will you get home?" Danielle asked curiously, unsure if she really wanted to know or if she was just asking so he would hang around a few seconds longer.

Jasper shrugged. "I'll walk," he told her. "It's not that far of a trip to my house from here. I'll manage just fine."

"Are you sure?" Danielle asked uncertainly. "I could borrow my mom's car and drive you home," she then offered. "It wouldn't be any trouble for me, and it'd be a lot faster than walking."

Jasper considered the offer for a second, but then finally shook his head. "Thank you for the offer, but I'll be fine," he insisted.

"Okay," Danielle said, trying very hard to keep the disappointment out of her tone. "I'll see you tomorrow, then," she finally told him.

Jasper nodded. "You will," he confirmed. "Have a good night, Danielle."

"You, too," she said.

Jasper gave her one last smile, then, with a smidge of reluctance, he turned and began to walk away. Danielle wrapped her arms around herself and watched him go, sighing quietly to herself. Then, finally, she went into her mother's bookshop.

* * *

Danielle was in a ridiculously good mood after that. She stayed at her mother's bookshop until close, working on her homework at first, then helping out around the store once she was finished. Lynne, who could read Danielle like an open book, had noticed the extra bounce in her step and kept asking just what exactly had put her in such a great mood. Danielle, who wasn't quite ready to tell her mother that _Jasper_ was the reason for her surge of happiness, just came up with whatever excuse sounded best to get her mother to stop asking.

By seven thirty that night, the sun had gone down and they were pulling into the driveway. Danielle stepped out of the car and automatically looked at the Swan house, noticing first that Bella's truck had indeed been towed back and was parked in its usual spot, then noticing next that both Charlie and Bella appeared to be home, since all of the windows in the house were lit up. She thought about her earlier decision to check on Bella and turned to her mother, who was already making her way up to the house.

"Hey, Mom?" she called to make Lynne look back at her. "I'm gonna go check in on Bella for a second. I've been really worried about her."

"Okay, sweetie," Lynne said with a nod of understanding. "But don't stay too long. We'll be eating dinner soon."

Danielle nodded, then started across the street, shivering against the cold wind as it beat against her face and swirled around her - she wished she still had Jasper's jacket with her so that she'd be nice and warm again. Picking up the pace, she hurried up to the front door of Bella's house and knocked twice, before taking a step back and waiting patiently for someone to answer the door. After waiting for just a few seconds, the front door opened to reveal Charlie.

"Oh, hello, Danielle," he greeted with a small smile, not looking _too_ surprised to see her standing on his front door step.

"Hi, Chief Swan," she said with a respectful nod. "I'm sorry to drop by unexpectedly, but I wanted to come and see how Bella was doing," she explained.

"She's doing alright," Charlie told her. "Still a bit shaken up over everything, I think, but doing well enough." He paused, then raised his brows. "Would you like to come in and talk to her?"

Danielle nodded at once. "That'd be great."

Charlie stepped aside and motioned for her to come in. Danielle stepped into the warmth of the Swan house, relieved to get out of the cold, then glanced around curiously as she searched for Bella. "She's upstairs in her room," Charlie told her. "Go ahead and go up."

"Alright. Thanks," she told him with a smile.

While Charlie went back into the living room, Danielle went upstairs to the second floor. Once she was upstairs, it wasn't hard to figure out which room was Bella's. There was a door at the end of the hall that was shut, but she could hear music on the other side, the same music that she and Bella frequently listened to whenever they drove to school. Danielle went to the door and knocked to catch Bella's attention.

She heard footsteps approaching the door from the other side. When Bella yanked the door open, she looked frustrated. "Dad, I've told you. I'm _fine_ ," she said immediately. But then she made a face of surprise as she realized that it was Danielle who had come to talk to her, not her father. "Oh, hey," Bella said, smiling sheepishly now. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. I thought you were my dad," she apologized.

"It's fine," Danielle reassured her with a smile.

Bella nodded, then motioned her into the room. Danielle stepped in and took a look around, eyeing the posters on the walls and the possessions scattered about the room. She turned back to Bella after her friend shut the bedroom door, watching as she went to the stereo and turned down the music.

"How are you?" Danielle asked once the music was down. "I've been worried about you all day."

Bella sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm…okay," she said with a nod. "It's been a _really_ weird day, though. After everything that happened with the crash and with Edward, I've just…" Bella sighed and shrugged. "I've had a lot on my mind."

Danielle pursed her lips with uncertainty. She thought back to what Bella had said that morning, how she was convinced that she had seen Edward do something that simply couldn't have been possible. Did Bella still believe that was what had happened? "Did something else happen with Edward?" she asked carefully.

Bella nodded. "He was at the hospital," she told her. "I saw him after you guys left and I went to talk to him. I had to know how he had been able to stop the van the way that he did," she insisted. But then she scowled and shook her head. "He wouldn't tell me. In fact, he made me feel like I was crazy for even thinking it was possible!" Bella said indignantly. "I mean, I know it's a little farfetched, but…I was right there, Danielle. I saw him do it with my own eyes!" she insisted.

Danielle frowned, unsure what to say in response. Bella seemed to adamantly believe that Edward had stopped the van with his bare hands, but Danielle, who had talked to Edward about what had happened and gotten his side of the story, didn't feel the same.

"Bella," she started slowly. "Do you think that maybe you were just… _confused_?" she asked gently. "I mean, it all happened pretty fast and I'm sure you were scared half to death. Maybe you weren't thinking straight. Maybe what you _think_ you saw…didn't happen," she told her.

Bella's jaw dropped in shocked, before she frowned deeply. "You don't believe me?" she asked bluntly.

Danielle pressed her lips together tightly. "I don't wanna say that I don't _believe_ you," she told her carefully. "But, I mean…stopping a van with his bare hands? That's _more_ than just a little farfetched."

"So you think I'm crazy, too, is that it?" Bella countered with pure frustration.

"No!" Danielle said at once. "I don't think you're crazy. I just think that maybe, in all the chaos, you saw something that didn't actually happen." Bella scoffed, but said nothing in response. "Look," Danielle continued. "I know Edward was at the hospital, because I talked to him while the doctor was looking you over. After what you told me, _I_ wanted to know what had happened too," she admitted. "We talked about what happened and he had a good explanation for everything. When it was all said and done…his side of the story made sense. Or, at least, it made more sense than the alternative," she added with a sigh.

Bella shook her head. "First Edward, now you," she said, sounding disappointed, maybe even a little defeated. "I can't believe this."

Danielle stepped closer, her expression a little guilty. "I'm not trying to hurt your feelings here, Bella," she insisted. "I don't think you're crazy or anything like that. I just think that you were in a stressful situation and things got a little… _skewed._ "

Bella wouldn't meet her gaze. "I know what I saw," she repeated. "I don't care what Edward told you, and I don't care if you don't believe me. I was there. And I _know what I saw_."

Danielle sighed and nodded. "Okay," she finally said. Bella had clearly made up her mind, so there was no use arguing with her about it. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Bella any further, not after the day she had already had. "I should probably go," Danielle said, thinking maybe it would be best if she left. "My mom said not to stay long. We're gonna be eating dinner soon."

Bella looked at her, seemed to understand how uncomfortable Danielle was with the situation, then sighed heavily, her previous anger and determination quickly fading away. "I'm sorry," she apologized, looking regretful now. "You came over here to check on me and I'm acting like a huge jerk."

Danielle smiled gently. "Don't apologize. I understand. It's been a hard day," she said understandingly. "I'm just glad you're okay," she told her sincerely. "That's the only thing that _really_ matters."

Bella nodded, then flashed her a smile. "Thank you for coming to check on me. You're…you're a good friend."

Danielle smiled, then, after a brief moment of hesitation, she moved forward and hugged Bella. Bella immediately hugged her back, sighing a bit as she accepted the comforting embrace. Finally, they pulled away from each other.

"Get some rest," Danielle said, patting her shoulder before taking a step back. "Try to not stress, okay? And if you need anything, anything at _all_ , you know where to find me."

Bella nodded. "Okay."

Danielle nodded to her, then finally went to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said, opening the bedroom door.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Bella said in return.

Danielle finally left the room after that and headed back downstairs. She said goodbye to Charlie, who was parked on the couch and watching a fishing show on TV, before stepping out of the Swan house. Then, she went home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's.

_Chapter Five_

_March_

After her first eventful week in Forks, things settled down fairly quickly. The hype around her arrival at the school had died down completely, which was due in large part to the fact that everyone had more or less forgotten about her after Bella's near death experience. Attention had shifted solely to her friend, which Danielle was selfishly grateful for – she was just another student now, no longer a subject of interest, and that was just how she liked it.

Slowly but surely she had gotten used to life in Forks, Washington. The cold wasn't so irritating anymore, the rain wasn't so annoying. She had fallen into a routine and felt significantly more comfortable with this new chapter of her life. As unsure as she had been about everything in the beginning, now that she had been there for over a month, she could appreciate the small town for what it was – a safe, quiet, cozy place where the people were friendly and neighbors looked out for one another. It wasn't a bad place to be at all, and she could admit that she was starting to _like_ being in Forks.

Of course, it helped that she had made some good friends. She and Bella had gotten really close and hung out all the time. Danielle had grown quite fond of the lunch group, especially Angela who she got along with really well – even Jessica and her gossiping had gotten less annoying with time. Danielle had also become pretty good friends with Emmett Cullen. They had a lot in common and always had a good laugh when they were around each other. He was the first person, other than Bella, who Danielle had clicked with and truly considered to be a friend.

But there was one person in particular who stood out above the rest, one person that had a lot to do with her newfound appreciation of her new home. And that person was Jasper Hale.

After the day that Jasper walked her to her mother's bookshop, things definitely changed between them. It had started off slow – they would walk to their English class together, study together during lunch here or there, or maybe squeeze in a quick chat after school if they happened to cross paths. Over time, as they grew more comfortable with each other, they began to see one another more and more. They always sat next to each other in class now, and always walked together in the halls if they were going the same direction. They would visit each other at their lockers if they had time between classes, and they had gotten to the point where they had lunch together several times a week, regardless of whether or not they had anything to study for.

They were definitely friends, there was no question about that now. As rocky as a start as they had gotten off to, things couldn't have been better between them.

Well, that actually wasn't the _complete_ truth. For Danielle, there _was_ a way things could get even better between them. Because if she was to be one hundred percent honest, the more time went on and the more time she spent around him, the more she had come to accept that her feelings toward Jasper _weren't_ just friendly anymore.

Jasper had told her once that he wanted to prove that he was better than the person she had met on her first day of school, and in _her_ eyes, he had achieved that by leaps and bounds. Jasper was a great guy – he was smart, easy to talk to, and, when he let his guard down, actually pretty funny. They didn't necessarily like all the same music, or the same books, or the same movies, but they never struggled to find something to talk about when they were together, and they got along so well it was as if they had known each other for years. Jasper was the person she looked forward to seeing the most every day, someone she thought about on a near constant basis, and she was never happier than she was whenever she was with him.

She had tried to _just_ be his friend, had tried to resist the attraction she had felt for him while he had been proving himself to be better than how he had been upon first meeting. But, in the end, there was just no denying what her heart kept screaming at her.

Danielle had fallen for Jasper, and she had fallen _hard_.

Jasper had no idea how she _really_ felt, though, and in a way, Danielle was kind of okay with that. As far as she knew, Jasper only saw her as a friend – he never flirted with her or did anything to make her believe that his feelings were more than friendly. Though Tom, her best friend from Texas, had encouraged her to tell Jasper how she felt and see what happened, Danielle wasn't sure that was the right move to make. Things were so good between them, they had come so far. She was afraid that she would ruin their friendship by confessing her feelings, afraid that she would scare Jasper away. And at the end of the day, she'd much rather have Jasper in her life as a friend than not have him in her life at all.

In the end, Danielle had decided to keep her feelings to herself. For now, she was content just to be friends with Jasper and enjoy they easy, comfortable relationship they had formed over the past month or so. She knew there would probably come a time in the future when the truth would come out, but until then, mum was the word as far as she was concerned.

When she and Bella arrived at Forks High on Tuesday, the first day of March, they got there a bit earlier than usual. As they pulled into the parking lot and parked a few spaces over from Mike's car, Danielle's eyes immediately searched the parking lot for the cars Jasper and his siblings always arrived in. Though she saw several kids loitering in the parking lot, she did not see any Cullen's anywhere.

After Bella cut the engine, they climbed out of the truck, collected their bags, then went to join the lunch group, who were all hanging out around Mike's car.

"Morning, everyone," Danielle said with a smile as they approached.

They were greeted by an enthusiastic chorus of ' _hey!'s_ and _'good morning!'s_. The guys greeted Danielle with high fives and fist bumps, as per usual, while Jessica and Angela gave her big smiles and friendly hugs. Bella received the same treatment, only Mike decided to throw an arm around her shoulders and pull her into his side as he began chatting away in her ear. Danielle had to resist the urge to laugh when she saw how incredibly uncomfortable Bella looked.

"So, have you heard yet?" Angela asked Danielle, her face shining with excitement.

Danielle frowned with confusion. "Heard what?"

"They finally announced the date for the Spring Fling!" Angela revealed. "It's going to be on March twelfth!"

Danielle cocked an eyebrow. She had no idea what Angela was talking about. "What the heck is the _Spring Fling?_ " she asked uncertainly.

"It's the Spring dance," Jessica piped up, finally focusing her attention on what Danielle and Angela were talking about once Bella deftly ducked out from underneath Mike's arm. "It's a Sadie Hawkins kind of thing, though," she added. "Meaning that it's the _girls_ who ask the _boys_ to the dance."

"Ah. I see," Danielle said, nodding in understanding.

Angela grinned and nudged Danielle with her elbow. "So now that you know, who are you going to ask to go with you?" she asked, wagging her eyebrows knowingly.

The first face – the _only_ face – that flashed through her mind was Jasper's. But the thought of asking Jasper instantly made her nervous, because that sure felt a _lot_ like asking him on a date. And that seemed like dangerous territory to venture into.

"I think we _all_ know who she's going to ask," Eric loudly interjected. Everyone looked at him as he paused dramatically, then he grinned widely. " _Me,_ of course!" he announced grandly.

Danielle and the girls laughed, but Mike and Tyler immediately scoffed and shoved his shoulders. "Yeah right, dude!" Tyler teased. "Why would Dani go with _you?"_

Eric shoved Tyler back, then jutted his chin into the air. "Because I'm so irresistible of course," he stated, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. He turned a smirk on Danielle, who immediately quirked a brow at him. "You are merely one of _many_ who has fallen for my roguish charm and boyish good looks, milady," he said, stepping forward and sweeping up her hand so he could kiss her knuckles. His antics made her already quirked brow lift even higher. "But you are, by far, the fairest of all my suitors!" he told her with a wink.

Danielle snorted and shook her head. She knew Eric wasn't _really_ interested in her and that he was only joking around. Jessica and Bella were laughing again, while Mike and Tyler continued to roll their eyes and scoff at their friend. But when Danielle glanced at Angela, she realized that her friend didn't seem to be finding this whole situation so funny anymore. Angela had stopped laughing and was frowning a bit, her eyes bouncing back and forth between Danielle and Eric with growing uncertainty. Danielle, who had begun to recently suspect that Angela had a crush on Eric, quickly pulled her hand out of Eric's grasp.

"Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news," she said. "But I'm not sure I'm even going to the dance yet. So tell your other _suitors_ that you're still available," she advised him.

Eric immediately threw a hand over his heart, his face one of pain. "Oh, fair lady! How you wound me!" he cried dramatically.

Danielle reached a hand out to pat him on the head. "You'll live," she reassured him with a sweet smile.

"What about you, Bells?" Mike spoke up, his eyes alight with interest as he looked at Bella. "You have anyone in mind?"

Now Jessica, who very obviously had a thing for Mike, was the one to frown. Bella, on the other hand, just shifted on her feet awkwardly and shrugged a shoulder. "Actually, I don't know if I'm gonna go either," she told him. "Dances aren't really my thing."

Mike seemed disappointed. "That's sad to hear," he said. "I hope you change your mind," he then told her earnestly, his tone leaving no doubt in Danielle's mind that he was hoping Bella would eventually ask _him_ to go.

Bella and Danielle shared a discreet look. The expression on Bella's face instantly told Danielle that even if she _did_ end up going, it wouldn't be with Mike Newton. Danielle knew exactly _why_ she didn't why to go with Mike, and that was because she knew Bella's interest lay somewhere else. Bella had not admitted it aloud, but Danielle would bet a good chunk of money that her friend had a small, ever-growing crush on Edward Cullen. There was something in the way she looked at Edward, something in the way that she always seemed to be very much aware of him and everything he did that just seemed so obvious to Danielle. Bella liked Edward, and she had for some time now.

There was one, big, glaring problem, however.

Ever since the accident the month before, Edward had been avoiding Bella like the plague. He never talked to her, barely even _acknowledged_ her. It seemed, for all intents and purposes, like he was doing his best to completely shut her out, though neither Bella, nor Danielle, was entirely sure why he had been behaving this way. They had debated his behavior plenty of times, and there had even been a few times where Danielle had resorted to asking both Jasper _and_ Emmett about Edward's behavior. But she'd only received vague, uninformative answers in return from the two, and to this day, she still didn't know what Edward's deal was.

Danielle had a sneaking suspicion that his determination to ignore Bella had something to do with the accident and the wild accusations that Bella had made in the wake of it. She and Bella had not dared to discuss what had happened the day that Edward had saved Bella's life, simply because they still did not agree on what had _really_ taken place that day. Danielle, however, knew that Bella still believed that Edward had done things that no normal human being should be able to do. She thought that maybe Bella's unwavering belief that Edward was some sort of super-human had just weirded him out, and, therefore, resulted in him trying to keep his distance.

It wasn't much of an excuse, she supposed, but it was the best Danielle could come up with to try to explain everything.

"Okay, the bell for first period should be ringing soon," Angela said, looking at her watch. "I'm gonna head inside."

"I'll come with you," Bella quickly said, already taking a step away from Mike. She looked like she was happy to have any excuse to get out of having to participate in this conversation any further. "Dani?"

Danielle glanced around, searching the lot for the cars the Cullen's drove and hoping that Jasper and his siblings had arrived while she had been talking to her friends, but she couldn't see their cars anywhere, not from where she stood, at least. She finally sighed, then nodded. "Yeah. I'll come with you guys."

Danielle, Bella, and Angela said their goodbyes to the rest of the group and continued on into school. When they walked inside, they found the walls covered in signs announcing the Spring Fling dance. The news had sent the girls in school into a tizzy – as they made their way to their lockers, they saw dozens of girls running about and giggling with excitement.

"This dance is a big deal, huh?" Danielle commented, her eyes turning to Angela.

" _Any_ dance is a big deal around here," Angela told them with a shrug.

Danielle nodded, then raised her brows questioningly. "Are you gonna ask someone to go with you?"

Angela pursed her lips unsurely. "I _had_ been thinking of asking someone," she admitted. "But now I'm not sure if I should."

"If you're talking about Eric, I think you should go for it," Danielle encouraged with a nod, knowing it was what her friend wanted to do, but feeling like she might need a little shove in the right direction.

For a moment Angela seemed surprised that Danielle had read her so easily, then she gave her a look of doubt. "I don't think he wants to go with me," she said with a shake of her head.

Danielle just shrugged. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. Guess you won't know for sure unless you _ask_ , huh?" she told her pointedly.

Angela sighed. "Yeah, I guess." She pursed her lips again, then smiled a bit. "I'll think about it."

"Good," Danielle said with satisfaction.

They reached Angela's locker a moment later, and after saying a quick goodbye, Angela veered off and Danielle and Bella continued on down the hallway toward their own lockers. Bella glanced back at Angela as they walked, then looked at Danielle questioningly.

"You think Angela likes Eric?" she asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Danielle shot back.

"Not to me," Bella admitted with a shrug. "But you're much better at picking up on stuff like that," she added with a smirk.

They wove their way between students as they made their way closer to their lockers. Danielle saw a pretty girl nervously walk up to a boy she clearly liked, her cheeks so red they looked like they might catch on fire. She was clearly asking him to the dance, and judging by the huge smile that stretched across her face when he responded, Danielle would guess he had said yes. The two hugged, before the girl ran back to her friends, giggling the whole way.

They finally reached their lockers and made quick work of storing away their backpacks, both of them grabbing the books they would need for the next few classes. When they were finished, they shut their lockers and rejoined each other, before heading off in the general direction of their first period classes. It didn't take long for Danielle to notice that Bella was watching her curiously.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Danielle asked, wondering what was on her friend's mind.

Bella pressed her lips together, then raised her brows. "If you end up going to the dance, are you going to ask Jasper to go with you?" she asked quietly.

Danielle looked at her in surprise. Bella, of course, knew exactly how Danielle felt about Jasper. She had been sworn to secrecy though, and rarely brought it up, especially if they were at school. Danielle also tried to avoid yapping Bella's ear off about Jasper if she could, simply because she felt guilty about the fact that things were so easy between her and Jasper, while things were so _difficult_ for Bella and Edward.

Danielle thought about it, then shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I like dances. And I like _him,"_ she said with a sigh. "He's the only one I'd want to go with, but…I just don't know," she finished lamely, her expression full of uncertainty. "I don't know if he even wants to go to the dance, let alone go with _me_."

"Well, to quote someone very wise, you won't know for sure unless you _ask_ , will you?" Bella said, using the exact same words that Danielle had said to Angela only minutes before. Danielle gave her a look, which made Bella smile and shrug. "All I'm saying is that maybe you should give it a shot," she said. "If he says yes, then you guys will go to the dance and probably have a great time. And if he says no, well…" Bella trailed off.

"It's not the end of the world," Danielle finished for her. Even as she said that, she knew if Jasper turned her down that she'd be _crushed_.

"Exactly," Bella agreed with a nod.

Danielle sighed, then nodded. "I'll think about it," she said, giving the same answer Angela had. "Thanks for the pep talk," she said, flashing Bella a smile.

"Anytime," Bella said.

Danielle finally said her goodbye's to Bella and headed toward her class. Though her stomach always filled with butterflies at the thought of seeing Jasper, the butterflies were twice as fierce now that the Spring Fling dance had gotten thrown into the equation. When Danielle got to class, she took a moment to catch her breath when she saw that Jasper wasn't there yet. She eased into her seat and unpacked her things, then spent the next few minutes anxiously tapping her pencil against her desk, eyes locked on the door. With each student that filtered in, Danielle straightened with anticipation, only to relax again when it wasn't Jasper.

Finally, when just about everyone had arrived and Danielle was starting to wonder whether Jasper was going to show at all, he walked through the door.

Just as always, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, then began to hammer faster than normal against her ribs. She briefly glanced at Rosalie, who walked in behind him and, without even acknowledging that Danielle was present, went to her seat on the far side of the room. Danielle then turned her eyes back to Jasper. He was wearing dark jeans and a white, V-neck sweater today, and good _lord_ did he look _good._ Jasper started toward his desk, flashing her a friendly smile. She smiled back at him as he approached, just _knowing_ her cheeks had turned pink already, and told herself to act normal.

 _Don't be an idiot,_ _Danielle_ , she told herself. _Just play it cool._

"Good morning," Jasper said as he eased into the desk on her left. Then, almost immediately, he frowned. "Why are you so nervous?"

 _Crap_.

Danielle froze and looked at him like a deer caught in headlights. She had noticed over the course of time that Jasper seemed to have the uncanny ability to read her like an open book – one look at her, and he seemed to always know _exactly_ what she was feeling. She had also noticed – though it made absolutely no sense to her – that whenever she was with Jasper, her emotions had the tendency to bounce around so suddenly, it was almost as if they had they had a mind of their own. If she was stressed or worried or in a bad mood, it would all disappear in the blink of an eye and she would suddenly feel calm and relaxed and happy. Danielle had thought it very strange at first, and hadn't been able to tell if it was because Jasper just had _that_ much of an effect on her everyday mood, or if she was just losing her mind.

In the end, she chalked it up to just having wild, hormonal mood swings.

"What makes you think I'm nervous?" Danielle asked evasively.

Jasper gave her a knowing look. "It's written all over your face."

Danielle just shrugged. "Well, I don't know what to tell you. I don't _feel_ nervous. I feel perfectly fine."

She was lying right through her teeth, and as Jasper gave her a long look, she was fairly certain he could tell. Being the wonderful person he was, though, he let it go.

The bell rang and class began, which Danielle was grateful for. She kept her eyes on the teacher and focused extra hard, hoping it might be enough to chase away that nervous feeling that continued to swirl around in her stomach. All throughout class, however, she could feel eyes on her and knew, without even having to look, that Jasper was giving her curious looks. He could clearly sense that she had something on her mind, and he seemed to want to know what that something was.

When the bell rang to send them to second period, Danielle and Jasper packed up their things and stood to leave at the same time. Jasper, just as he usually did, held the door open for her as they left the class, making her smile and nod to him gratefully. Soon enough they were on their way to English, walking side by side.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jasper asked doubtfully. "Has something happened?"

Danielle smiled and shook her head. "Honestly, Jasper, I'm fine," she told him. "I've got a few things on my mind," which wasn't a lie, "but it's nothing to worry about. I promise," she added reassuringly.

Jasper still hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded his head. "Alright, if you say so," he conceded.

They walked in silence for a second or two, Danielle looking anywhere but at Jasper while Jasper studied her curiously from the corner of his eye. When they went past a large sign advertising the Spring Fling dance, Danielle, her curiosity getting the better of her, decided to test the waters a bit.

"Did you hear about the dance?" she asked casually, looking up at Jasper now.

Jasper quirked a brow, then nodded slowly. "I have, yes," he confirmed. "In fact, it's all I've heard anyone talking about since I arrived at school today."

Danielle nodded, then raised her brows curiously. "Have you ever gone?" she asked. _That's it, Danielle_ , she mentally encouraged herself. _Calm and casual is the game here._

Jasper gave her a wry smile, then shook his head. "No," he answered simply.

"Why not?" Danielle pried. "Did you not get asked or were you just not interested?"

Jasper sighed, and if she wasn't mistaken, he seemed the tiniest bit uncomfortable now. "I've been asked once or twice," he told her, which actually did surprise her a bit. She knew she wasn't the only girl who thought Jasper was attractive, because she saw the way their schoolmates looked at him. But he had believed that everyone else was too intimidated by him to even _talk_ to him, let alone ask him to the dance. "I always said no, though," he continued. "I'm not crazy about dances to begin with," he proceeded to admit. "And I'd imagine going with someone I don't know would only make the whole experience even more uncomfortable."

Any hope Danielle might have had instantly deflated. Jasper didn't like dances. If he hadn't wanted to go to them in the past, she found it hard to believe that he would want to go now…even if it _was_ with a friend.

"That's understandable," Danielle said with a nod, trying _very_ hard to hide her growing disappointment.

Jasper gave her a scrutinizing look, as if she was a puzzle he was trying to figure out. "Are you planning to go?" he asked, still watching her closely.

Danielle shrugged a shoulder. If she didn't go with Jasper, did she even want to go at all? "I don't know yet," she told him. "I do enjoy going to dances, and I think it could be fun. But…yeah, I don't know," she finished unsurely.

Jasper didn't say anything to that, just nodded his understanding.

When they reached their English class, Jasper moved to hold the door open for her again. Danielle walked into the class, followed closely by Jasper, and they both took their seats in the front row. Barely even a second after she sat down, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Frowning uncertainly, she turned around to face the boy who sat behind her, who was named Jordan.

"Sup, Danielle?" he asked with a charming smile.

Danielle quirked a brow. Jordan wasn't a _bad_ looking guy, and from what she could tell, he seemed like he was a decent person. He didn't hold a candle to Jasper, though, not in _her_ eyes anyway. "Erm, hey, Jordan," she said unsurely. She glanced at Jasper, who was frowning at Jordan, his brows furrowed with suspicion. Danielle looked at Jordan again. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you'd heard about the dance," Jordan said, that charming smile never budging.

"Yeah, I have," Danielle said with a nod. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Jordan said, his shoulders squaring confidently, "I was thinking that maybe you and _I_ could go together," he told her with a slight waggle of his eyebrows.

Danielle blinked at him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the girl supposed to ask the guy?" she asked him pointedly.

"Well, _yeah_ ," Jordan confirmed with a chuckle. "But I think you're a great girl, and I think we'd have a good time together. So I figured I'd take a chance and break the rules a bit." Jordan paused, then raised his eyebrows. "So whaddya say?" he asked. "You wanna be my date?"

Danielle pressed her lips together, then gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Jordan, but…no," she declined as politely as possible.

It was obvious that Jordan had fully expected her to say yes, because the moment she said _no_ , he frowned and looked defensive. "Why not?" he asked, not sounding so charming now. "Have you already asked someone?"

"Well, _no_ – " Danielle started to say.

"Then why not go with me?" Jordan demanded, clearly not about to give up so easily. "We'd have a good time together, I just know it. I mean…at least think about it before you just say _no."_

Danielle was beginning to rethink her previous assessment of his character. He didn't seem like such a nice guy anymore – now he seemed annoying and rude. "I don't need to think about it," she told him a bit more firmly this time.

"Why?" Jordan countered swiftly.

"Because she already said _no,_ " a new voice interjected sharply.

Both Danielle and Jordan turned their gazes to Jasper, and when they saw the look on his face, they both looked at him with wide eyes. Jasper seemed angry and was glaring at Jordan through narrowed eyes. But no, he wasn't just _glaring_. Danielle was pretty sure that if looks could kill, Jordan would be absolutely done for. Jordan gulped as Jasper continued to glare at him, looking quite afraid now.

"She doesn't want to go to the dance with you," Jasper said through clenched teeth. "Now I suggest you apologize for being rude and then _leave_ _her_ _alone_ ," he commanded.

Jordan gulped again, then finally looked back to Danielle. He sputtered over his words for a moment, but finally managed to get some words out. "Sorry, Danielle," he said quickly, shifting uncomfortably under Jasper's glaring.

Danielle pressed her lips together and shrugged. "It's okay," she said, not really knowing what else to say.

She turned forward again as the bell rang to signal the start of class, but instead of looking at the teacher, she glanced at Jasper from the corner of her eye. He looked tense and annoyed and still a bit angry.

Danielle picked up her pencil, opened up her notebook, then wrote _'thank you'_ on the corner of a piece of paper. Danielle ripped the corner off, then, when the teacher wasn't looking, she reached over and placed it on Jasper's desk. Jasper looked at her in mild surprise, then turned his eyes down to the paper. When he read the simple words of gratitude, the tension instantly left his shoulders. Danielle smiled at him when his eyes lifted to hers again, and she was glad when he managed a smile for her.

* * *

After English, Jasper walked with her to her History class. Though they passed several signs advertising the Spring Fling, they didn't discuss the dance, nor that little incident with Jordan, any further. Once Jasper had gone his own way and Danielle was seated at her desk in her third period class, she rested her chin on her hand and stared distractedly at a map hanging on one of the walls of the classroom.

She couldn't stop thinking about Jasper and the way he had jumped to her defense when Jordan had been pestering her about the dance.

Danielle didn't really know what to make of Jasper's reaction to Jordan asking her out. She supposed it made sense that he would have her back – they _were_ friends, after all, and friends looked out for one another. Why _wouldn't_ Jasper save her from the unwanted attention Jordan had shown? Then again, Jasper had seemed _really_ unhappy about the whole thing, more so than she would have expected him to be. But why exactly had he been so upset? Was it because he didn't like how persistent Jordan had been, or was it because he just didn't like that Jordan had asked her out to begin with?

A large hand suddenly waved in front of her face, making her blink in surprise. Emmett had arrived, only she'd been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed.

"Ah, she _is_ still alive," he mused aloud teasingly. Emmett raised his brows with curiosity. "Any reason you were comatose just now?"

Danielle sighed. "I was just…thinking," she told him.

Emmett blinked at her. "Thinking about…?" he prompted, motioning for her to elaborate with a wave of his hand.

Danielle debated whether she should tell Emmett what had just happened or not, then finally decided to give it a shot. After all, Emmett was Jasper's brother – who would have better insight to the inner workings of Jasper's mind than him?

"A guy in my last class asked me to go to the dance with him," she told Emmett.

Emmett pulled a face. "You mean that stupid Spring Fling thing?" he asked. Clearly he wasn't a fan of school dances either. After Danielle nodded in confirmation, Emmett gave her a curious look. "What did you say?"

"I told him no," she said. "He didn't take the rejection very well, though, and kinda turned into a jerk about it."

Emmett frowned immediately. "What?" He paused, then cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Alright. I want a name and a description of what he looks like," he told her seriously, looking like he was ready to go and kick someone's ass. "Nobody, I repeat, _nobody,_ is allowed to be a jerk to one of _my_ friends. Only _I'm_ allowed to be a jerk to my friends," he added with a firm nod.

Danielle was touched by his protectiveness, but quickly shook her head. "Pump the brakes there, buddy," she said. "I'm not gonna let you get suspended from school because you decided to scare the crap out of someone." Emmett scoffed, as if the thought of getting suspended didn't bother him in the slightest. "Besides, Jasper already handled it," she reassured him.

Emmett smirked now, one brow lifting higher than the other. "He did, huh? Good."

Emmett definitely seemed pleased, but Danielle still didn't know what to think of it all. "To be honest, I'm kinda surprised by how… _defensive_ he got," she admitted. "The way Jasper was looking at him, I thought Jordan was gonna burst into flame right then and there." Danielle shook her head. "The whole thing seemed to really upset him."

"Well, _I'm_ not surprised," Emmett stated matter-of-factly. "Jasper's usually a pretty level headed guy, but when it comes to people he really cares about, he doesn't tolerate anyone messing with them. _"_

Danielle blinked. "Wait, what?" she asked, unsure if she'd heard him correctly.

Emmett didn't seem to understand why she was confused. "Jasper's protective of the people who are important to him," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "Always has been."

Danielle felt her heart thump hard in her chest. "And…and _I_ fall under the category of people who are important to him?" she asked in complete shock, pointing toward herself with uncertainty. "Jasper _cares_ about me?"

Emmett gave her a disbelieving look, as if he was stunned that she hadn't already known this. "C'mon, Dani. You're smarter than that," he shot at her with a meaningful look.

Danielle turned her eyes forward as the bell rang. But even as the teacher started talking, she didn't pay any attention. All she could hear in her head was the conversation she had just had with Emmett. And as she thought about what he had just said, the flame of hope that had been extinguished earlier suddenly surged back to life.

She had always been pretty good at being able to tell when other people liked each other, but she could admit that she had the tendency to be a bit oblivious when it came to someone liking _her_. All this time she had really, truly believed that Jasper only viewed her as a friend…but now the things that Emmett had said were making her wonder if maybe she had been wrong. What if there was more to all this than she had realized? What if, a small voice in her voice said hopefully, she had underestimated Jasper's feelings for her?

Could it be? Was it possible that Jasper felt the same way that she did?

* * *

By the time Danielle made it to Spanish, she was practically bursting with the need to tell Bella all about the events of the day. She did not get a chance to do so before the bell rang, nor did she dare try to discuss it once class had started. But as soon as Spanish was over and they were headed toward the cafeteria, she told Bella everything, from her talk with Jasper between classes, to Jasper coming to her defense when Jordan asked her to the dance, and, lastly, what Emmett had told her during history.

"So wait," Bella interjected. "What does that mean? Does that mean Jasper likes you? As in, _likes_ you likes you?"

Danielle shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea," she said. "He's never really _acted_ like he does."

"Are you sure about that?" Bella asked skeptically. "Because you guys spend a _lot_ of time together, and I've never even seen him _look_ at another girl since you came into the picture," she pointed out.

Danielle pressed her lips together as they walked. Part of her really, _really_ wanted to believe that she had been wrong. Wanted to believe that Jasper _did_ like her and that there was a chance that their friendship might someday grow into something more. But another, much _larger,_ part of her was afraid to get her hopes up.

"Just because he's protective of me doesn't mean he sees me as anything more than a friend," she countered. "I can think of a _dozen_ times where Tom did the exact same thing Jasper did, and it was never because he _liked me_. It was because we were friends and he was looking out for me," she explained.

"Okay…but think about how you and Tom are with each other and compare it to how you and _Jasper_ are together," Bella countered. "Is it the same?"

Danielle knew the answer without even having to think about it. She and Tom were like brother and sister, and had been since day one. She and _Jasper,_ however, well…that was a much different story.

Jessica and Angela suddenly stepped into view and spotted them almost immediately. "Hey, girls!" Jessica said enthusiastically, before the two quickly came to join them on their trek to the cafeteria. Danielle shot Bella a quick, silent look, one that clearly said she didn't want to discuss Jasper any further now that they weren't alone. Bella just nodded, and with that they put the conversation on hold.

As soon as they entered the cafeteria, the four of them made a beeline for the lunch line to get food. Jessica did most of the talking, going on and on about the dance and how excited she was. "You two should _really_ consider going," she insisted with a nod. "Think of all the fun we'll have! We can all go as a group and go to dinner and take pictures! The whole nine yards! And of course, going to a dance means _shopping for dresses_ ," she said with a clap of excitement. "Can anyone say girl's day out?!"

Angela and Jessica soon began to excitedly debate where they would go to look for dresses. As for Danielle and Bella, they just shared another look behind Jessica's back. Bella didn't look even remotely excited about the idea of dress shopping _or_ going to the dance. Danielle just shrugged at her friend with indecision.

After they had gotten their lunches, the four of them started in the direction of the lunch tables. Danielle glanced around, searching for a familiar head of blonde hair, then smiled when she spotted Jasper sitting at the table they always claimed whenever they sat together. He had been watching her expectantly, clearly waiting for her to notice him, then flashed a lopsided smile when their eyes met.

Danielle immediately felt nervous again, even more nervous than she had been that morning thanks to what Emmett had told her in history. That wasn't going to stop her from sitting with him, though. She smiled back and started to say goodbye to her friends so she could join him. Before she could get a word out, however, an arm dropped around her shoulders, catching her quite by surprise. She glanced up at the person attached to the arm, quirking a brow when she realized it was Mike.

"Well, would ya _lookee here_ ," he said with a broad grin. His eyes lingered on Bella a little longer than was probably necessary as he looked at each of them. "All my favorite girls in the same place!"

Danielle tried to ignore the look Jessica was now directing at her. She glanced at Jasper, who was watching her with a frown now, then peered up at Mike. "Er, what's up Mike?" she asked unsurely. Mike being a little on the touchy-feely side wasn't anything new, but he usually reserved this sort of attention for Bella or Jessica.

"We all have something _very_ important to discuss," he said. "I have two words for you." He paused dramatically, then said, " _La Push."_

Jessica and Angela immediately made sounds of excitement, while Danielle and Bella looked at each other in bewilderment. "La _what_?" Bella asked uncertainly.

Mike began to lead everyone toward the table the lunch group always sat at, and since he still had his arm around Danielle's shoulders, she had no choice but to go with him. She glanced helplessly at Jasper, who was watching them go to the other table, his frown deepening more and more by the second. She tried to catch his eye and beg him to come and rescue her, but he didn't pick up on her silent pleas for help – he was too busy glaring at the back of Mike's head. Mike, of course, was totally oblivious to the look he was getting.

"La Push is a town on the Quileute reservation," Angela quickly explained. "There's a beach out there we go to every now and again. It's really pretty and nature-y and it's an awesome spot for whale watching."

" _And_ it's a great place to catch some waves," Mike interjected excitedly. "So I already talked it over with the guys, and we're heading out this Saturday. You ladies in?" he asked eagerly.

Jessica and Angela immediately agreed to go. Danielle took a second to think it over, then nodded. She hadn't been to a beach in a while and was curious to see what this La Push place was like. "Yeah, sure. I'm in," she said. "Sounds like fun."

"Excellent!" Mike said happily. He then turned hopeful eyes on Bella. "How about you, Bells? You coming too?"

Bella glanced at Danielle, then nodded. "Sure. Count me in too."

Mike finally removed his arm from Danielle's shoulders so he could throw his arms up in celebration. "Alright! That's what I'm talking about! La Push, baby! It's on!"

They all shook their heads and laughed as Mike hurried off to tell Eric and Tyler the news, looking a bit like a kid on Christmas morning. Bella, Jessica, and Angela then followed him to their lunch table, but Danielle, who was eager to get to Jasper now that she was free to go, hung back.

"Hey, guys?" she called, making the three girls look back at her. "I'm gonna go – "

But the words died on her lips. Because when she looked back at her and Jasper's table, she saw that it was empty. Frowning now, she glanced toward the Cullen table to see if he was there instead. He wasn't. Jasper was gone, had left the cafeteria completely. Only his siblings were at the Cullen table, and Emmett, she noticed, was giving her a look that she couldn't quite decipher. She thought it looked a bit like disappointment, though.

An uneasy feeling entered her body, and suddenly she couldn't shake the feeling that she had done something wrong. For a moment she considered going to look for Jasper, but then she decided against it. Sighing heavily, she turned back to her friends, who were watching her unsurely.

"Never mind," she told them with a forced smile.

Then she followed them to the table and sat down to have lunch.

* * *

Danielle thought about Jasper nonstop for the rest of the day, which wasn't really anything new. The only difference now was that instead of her usual happy, love-struck thoughts, her mind was full of nothing but worry and unease.

The whole lunch situation kept hanging over her head, and the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that she had _definitely_ messed up. Jasper had wanted to have lunch with her, but she had gotten sidetracked by Mike and it had obviously given Jasper the wrong idea about what was going on. He probably thought that she had purposefully ditched him, which hadn't been the case at _all._ And the fact that Mike had cozied up to her? If what Emmett had said was true, and if, by some miracle, Jasper _did_ have more than friendly feelings for her, she could see why he had reacted the way he had. From her point of view, it had been innocent – she knew that Mike only saw her as a friend and that his actions had not had any sort of intent behind them. But to the outside perspective, it would have definitely looked like something else.

Danielle cursed herself over and over again. She had gone about everything the wrong way _._ Why hadn't she pushed Mike away? Why hadn't she done something to signal to Jasper that she would be coming to sit with him? Now Jasper was probably angry with her, and she didn't blame him one bit, because _she_ was angry at herself too.

By the time the final bell rang, Danielle had come to the decision that she needed to find Jasper and explain what had happened. She did _not_ want him to be upset with her, and she _definitely_ didn't want him to go home and spend the entire night thinking that she had blown him off for Mike freaking Newton. When their gym teacher dismissed them for the day, she hurried to the locker room and changed out of her gym clothes lightning fast, then grabbed her things and started toward the door without waiting for Bella.

"I'll meet you at the truck, okay?" she called over her shoulder. "I've got something to take care of."

Bella seemed a bit confused, but nodded anyway. "Okay."

Danielle left without another word, marching with quick, determined steps in the direction of Jasper's locker, hoping very much to be able to catch him before he met up with his siblings. She pushed through the crowd, moving as fast as she could, her heart thumping hard in her chest. She didn't know what she was going to say to him, but she knew, no matter what, that she had to set the record straight. She just hoped that he would be willing to listen.

Finally, Jasper's locker came into sight, and by the working of some higher power, he was there. He was shoving various books into his schoolbag, completely ignoring the people around him, the small scowl on his lips hinting that he wasn't in a great mood. Danielle paused for a moment, sucked in a deep breath, then lifted her chin and went over to him. _Don't be a chicken,_ she said to herself internally. _Just talk to him._

When she was only a few feet away, he suddenly looked at her, as if he had been able to sense that she was there. Her stomach jumped, but she kept walking toward him until she was finally by his side.

"Hey," Danielle said carefully.

Jasper's expression was difficult to read. He seemed a bit stiff, a bit more guarded than usual. "Hello," he said evenly.

Danielle decided there was no use beating around the bush. "I'm sorry about earlier," she told him sincerely. "I wasn't trying to blow you off, I promise. I was about to come sit with you, but then Mike showed up and started blabbing about some beach trip him and the other guys planned for this weekend. I tried to get to you as fast as I could, but by the time I finally got away, you were gone," Danielle explained in a rush. "I'm _really_ sorry, Jasper. Honestly."

Danielle gave him a pleading look, silently begging him to understand. Jasper's expression quickly softened and his shoulders relaxed. "It's alright, Danielle," he said, giving her a small smile. "You don't have to apologize for spending time with your friends."

"But _you're_ my friend, too," she reminded him pointedly. "And trust me, between hearing the guys brag about who was the better surfer and Jessica talking nonstop about how she wanted to do her hair for the dance, I would have _much_ rather spent my lunch with you," she admitted with a laugh.

Jasper smiled, though whether it was with amusement or satisfaction, she couldn't tell. Either way, she took it as a good sign. "Sounds like torture," he commented with a hint of teasing.

Danielle smiled. "You're not _wrong_ ," she shot back. Lunch _had_ felt like torture, what with Jasper being gone and her being convinced he was angry at her. She looked at him for a moment, then tilted her head questioningly. "So…are you mad at me?"

Jasper shook his head. "No, I'm not," he said, and she knew he was telling the truth.

Danielle breathed a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," she said, grinning broadly now.

"Actually, I think I might," he responded cryptically. Danielle frowned with slight confusion as Jasper shut his locker and slung his bag over his shoulder. Before she could ask him what he had meant by that, however, he turned to her and raised his brows curiously. "Are you headed to Bella's truck?"

Danielle nodded. "I just have to stop by my locker first," she said.

Jasper made a sound of understanding. "I'll walk with you."

Danielle grinned again. "Okay," she readily accepted.

They started down the hallway, which was already a lot less crowded now that students were filtering out for the day. As anxious and unsure as Danielle had been since lunch, she felt much better now that she knew things were alright between her and Jasper. She couldn't help but look up at him as they walked, giving him a small smile when their eyes met. He smiled back, then cleared his throat.

"So what's this beach trip you mentioned?" he asked conversationally.

Danielle shrugged. "I guess there's a beach nearby that has really good waves for surfing and really good whale watching," she said. "It's somewhere in a place called La Push?"

His eyes lit with recognition. "Ah, I see," Jasper said, nodding slowly. "And you're going?"

"Yeah," Danielle confirmed "I haven't seen a beach in a while. Plus the other girls are going. I think it'll be fun…or, at least, I _hope_ it'll be fun," she added with a smirk.

"I'm sure it will be," Jasper told her.

When they reached her locker, Danielle quickly put in the combination and pulled it open. Jasper leaned against the locker next to hers, his amber eyes glancing around for a moment, before he turned his gaze back to her. Danielle glanced at him from the corner of her eye, very much aware of the fact that he was watching her and doing her best not to blush because of it. She grabbed her backpack and started stuffing it with the notebooks and textbooks she would need for homework that night.

"You know," Jasper said casually, making her glance at him again. "When I saw Mike come up to you at lunch, I thought maybe _he_ was going to ask you to the dance, too."

At first, Danielle was a little surprised by what he had said. Then she snorted and gave him a look. "I'd be _very_ surprised if he did," she told him.

"Why's that?" Jasper asked.

"Because I'm pretty sure he's got a thing for Bella," she said matter-of-factly. "And by pretty sure, I mean he _definitely_ does."

Jasper quirked a brow. "And you're alright with that?" he asked slowly.

Danielle stopped what she was doing and gave him a disbelieving look. He wasn't _actually_ asking her what she thought he was, was he? "Are you kidding?" she asked with a scoff. "I couldn't be _more_ alright with that. I mean, I guess I kinda feel bad for Bella because she's not super comfortable with all the attention he gives her. But if someone has to be the apple of Mike's eye, then better _her_ than me," she said with a shake of her head.

Jasper smirked in response to that, looking a bit amused. But she thought she saw a gleam in his amber eyes, one that hinted that it pleased him to know that she didn't like Mike that way.

Danielle finally finished filling her backpack and closed her locker. The two of them started toward the exit, walking in comfortable silence. When they reached the door, Jasper, being the southern gentleman that he was, pulled it open and gestured her through, just as he always did every single time they went through any doorway together. Danielle smiled broadly as she went past him. There were a lot of reasons why she liked Jasper so much, but the fact that he _was_ still such a southern gentleman, despite the many years that had passed since he had lived in the south, was one of the things that she found most attractive about him.

They walked to the parking lot, which was already emptying out as students went home for the day. Not so far away, she could see Jasper's siblings hanging out by their car, clearly waiting for Jasper. A little further into the parking lot, she could see Bella waiting by the truck. Bella had a book out and appeared to be reading something, but she kept glancing in the direction of the Cullen's …or, more specifically, in _Edward's_ direction. Edward wasn't paying any attention to her, though, which wasn't much of a surprise considering he always pretended like she wasn't there.

"I should probably go," Jasper said, drawing Danielle's attention to him. "They're looking a little impatient," he added, nodding in the direction of his siblings.

Danielle nodded her understanding. "Okay," she said. "I'll see you in the morning."

Jasper nodded. Then, with one last smile, he turned to leave.

Danielle watched him go, sighing to herself. But then something suddenly came over her. Maybe it was because she had been thinking about the dance all day, maybe it was because of her conversation with Emmett, or maybe it was just because the lunch situation had been handled and she now knew that she and Jasper were perfectly fine. Whatever the reason, she suddenly felt a surge of courage. She wanted to ask Jasper to the Spring Fling. And there seemed no better time to do it than now, while she still had the nerve to do it.

It was now or never. Time to be brave and hope that she _wasn't_ about to make a catastrophic mistake.

"Hey, Jasper?" she called out to him, shifting on her feet nervously.

Jasper stopped at the sound of her voice and turned back around to face her, his brows raising questioningly. "Yes?" he asked.

Danielle gulped, then walked toward him. _You can do this, Danielle_ , she told herself internally. _Just go for it._ "I don't know exactly how to ask what I'm about to ask, so I'm just gonna come out with it." She paused for a moment, then, when Jasper gave her an expectant look, she sucked in a deep breath and laid all her cards on the table. "Will you go to the Spring Fling with me?" she asked in a rush.

Jasper's eyebrows shot up so high, they nearly disappeared into his hairline. Clearly he hadn't been expecting her to ask him to the dance, and the fact that she _had_ had caught him off guard. "What?" he asked, almost in disbelief.

Danielle felt her moment of bravery begin to rapidly slip away. "I'd…like to go to the dance with you?" she said, uncertainty evident in her tone now. "I know you said you don't like dances and that they're awkward and stuff, and yeah, maybe they _are,_ " she said, waving a hand around wildly as she spoke. "But we get along really well and I like being around you and I think it'd be fun. You're the only person I wanna go with. It doesn't have to be a big deal, we can just…go and have fun and… _yeah."_

Danielle realized two things in that moment. The first thing she realized was that she was rambling, which made her quickly shut her mouth before she could say anything else. The second thing she realized was that Jasper hadn't said anything – all he was doing was staring back at her like she'd sprouted another head. As a few torturously long, silent seconds ticked by, Danielle began to fear the worst. She had been wrong. Any minute now Jasper was going to call her an idiot and tell her how she had never stood a chance, then she'd have no choice but to crawl into the nearest hole and die a slow, miserable death.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Jasper sighed and raked a hand through his hair, something she had never seen him do before. "Look, I, uh…" He seemed to struggle to find the right words to say. "I don't know if that's a good idea," he finally said.

It was all her fears confirmed. Feeling a bit like she'd just been punched in the gut, Danielle pressed her lips together and nodded. "Oh…okay," she said quietly, her eyes turning down to her shoes.

Jasper heaved again, which made her look up. "Danielle – "

"It's fine, Jasper," she interrupted gently, making him fall silent again. She didn't want to hear his reasons for saying no, didn't want to hear him say, out loud, that he just didn't feel that way about her. Right now, all she wanted was to preserve whatever pride she had left and get away from him before he saw just how badly his rejection was affecting her. "You don't have to explain. I _totally_ get it," she told him, her tone perhaps a little _too_ understanding.

"But – " Jasper started to say again.

"I should go," she interrupted again, taking two big steps away, fully preparing to dart past him and make a run for it. "Bella's waiting for me."

"Danielle, wait," Jasper said, taking a step toward her, his tone and expression pleading.

Danielle shook her head and held up a hand to stop him. Jasper instantly froze. "I _really_ need to go," she repeated, unable to meet his gaze. "I'll, uh…I'll see you around, okay?"

With that being said, Danielle brushed past him and quickly began to walk away, trying not to acknowledge the lump that had formed in her throat. She heard Jasper make a sound of frustration behind her, but she didn't stop. She kept going forward, keeping her head down, ignoring the Cullen's when she walked past them, ignoring _anyone_ who even looked in her direction. When she reached Bella, her friend took one look at the expression on her face and immediately stood straighter with concern.

"Dani? Are you alright?" she asked, glancing briefly in Jasper's direction before turning worried eyes on her. "What happened?"

Danielle didn't even bother trying to fake anything. "I don't wanna talk about it," she said. "Let's just get out of here. Please?"

Bella slowly nodded. "Yeah, okay," she agreed.

They quickly got into the truck, and before long, they were pulling out of the school parking lot. Danielle said nothing to Bella, just rested her forehead against the cool glass of the passenger side window, watching the world rush by and hating herself more and more with each passing second.

She had ruined everything, she was sure of it. Things had been so good, and now, because she had decided to throw caution to the wind, things were never going to be the same between her and Jasper.

How could she have been so _stupid_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's.

_Chapter Six_

That night, after she had finished her homework and eaten dinner with her mother, Danielle lay in bed with her feet propped up on the headboard of her bed, her eyes staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to her ceiling and her cell phone pressed to her ear. After her mortifying day at school, there was only one person she had wanted to turn to for some words of reassurance - Tom.

"God, it was so _embarrassing_ , Tom," she heaved into the phone, closing her eyes and shaking her head. She had just finished telling him everything that had happened, and it was just as horrible retelling it as it had been to actually experience it. "I just wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole."

"I'm sure it's not as bad as you're making it sound," Tom countered.

"Oh, no. It was _bad_ ," Danielle insisted. "There I was, word vomiting _all_ over the place, while he just stood there and stared at me like a third eye had just popped out of my forehead. He looked damn near _terrified_ that I had even dared to ask."

"Maybe you just caught him by surprise," Tom offered, which Danielle thought was an understatement. Jasper had been surprised, there was no doubt about that, but it had _not_ been a _good_ surprised. "Maybe he didn't think you'd want to go with him and didn't know how to react when you asked."

"Or maybe he thinks I'm an idiot for thinking he would _ever_ be into me and just couldn't decide the best way to tell me to get lost," she retorted cynically.

Tom snorted. "Wow. Pessimistic much?" he said dryly. "You don't even know that he was going to say _no_."

Danielle pulled a face and dropped her feet from her headboard so she could sit up. "I'm sorry, but which part of this conversation did you not understand?" she asked sarcastically. "I asked Jasper to the dance and he said _no_. He _doesn't_ want to go with me."

"No, he didn't," Tom countered patiently. "What he said was that he didn't know if it was a good _idea_ or not, which isn't _technically_ a no," he then pointed out.

Danielle rolled her eyes, trying not to feel annoyed. She appreciated the fact that Tom was trying to make her feel better, but what was the point in denying that Jasper had turned her down? "Okay, so he didn't outright say _no_ , but he sure as hell didn't say _yes_ , either," Danielle said.

"He might have if you hadn't hightailed it out of there before he had a chance to explain himself," Tom countered without missing a beat. "He was trying to say something to you before you ran away, right?"

Danielle pressed her lips together. Jasper _had_ tried to stop her before she'd made a run for it, only she'd been so upset that she hadn't given him the chance to say anything else. "Well…yeah," she admitted reluctantly. "He was probably just gonna give me some lame excuse as to why he couldn't go or something, though," she quickly added.

"There you go assuming again," Tom said disapprovingly. "How do you know he didn't just need a few seconds to give it some thought? How do you know he wasn't gonna eventually say yes?"

Danielle heaved in response. "Because if he had wanted to say yes, then he would have said _yes,_ " she said, stating what she thought should have been pretty obvious.

Tom made a sound of impatience. "Look, has it occurred to you even _once_ that maybe _he's_ just as nervous about all this as you are?" he asked. "You said it yourself – you're basically the guy's only friend. What if he likes you, only he's afraid he'll screw it up and lose someone he really cares about in the process? What if he's just trying to be careful and make sure he goes about everything the right way?"

Danielle blinked in surprise, because that thought actually _hadn't_ crossed her mind.

The hopeful side of her thought that Tom actually made a good point – _was_ Jasper into her, only he was just being cautious about it? Was he just trying to make sure the friendship they had built remained protected? The part of her that was still very much wounded after what had happened that day instantly went into denial. No, if Jasper had liked her then he wouldn't have hesitated and he wouldn't have said no. He would have seen that this was a chance for them to take things a step further and said yes. The fact that he _hadn't_ done that clearly meant he didn't feel the same way...didn't it?

Danielle sighed and rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on from all the going back and forth she'd been doing since she got home. "I don't know what to think anymore, Tom," she said helplessly. "This whole thing has turned into such a mess. I barely even know what's going on in my _own_ head right now, let alone in Jasper's."

"Well, there's a simple solution here," Tom said. " _Talk to him."_

"And make an even _bigger_ ass of myself?" Danielle retorted huffily. "No thank you. In fact, I might skip school tomorrow, maybe even skip for the rest of the _week_ ," she said. "Lord knows it's only a matter of time before word gets around that I was shot down by Jasper. I'll be the laughing stock of the school."

"You are not gonna _skip,"_ Tom said sternly. "You're gonna suck it up, put on your big girl britches, and face him at school tomorrow. And if he tries to talk to you, you're not going to run away again. You're gonna _listen_ to what he has to say."

Danielle made a sour face in response to his bossiness. "Who are you, my _mother?"_

"I'm your brutally honest friend who is telling you to get over this little pity party you're throwing and give the guy a chance to explain himself before you go jumping off the deep end," Tom retorted. He paused, then spoke again. "Look, I can tell you really like this guy," he said, his tone a little more gentle now. "For the past month, all I've heard from you is ' _Jasper this'_ and _'Jasper that'._ Obviously he's someone who means a lot to you. Now I can't tell you for sure what it is that he feels for you, but just judging by what you told me, I feel like there's more to this story. And if you push him away before you even know what's really going on, then you're an idiot and you're making a huge mistake."

Danielle sighed heavily. "And what if there _isn't_ more to this story? What if he's the one who pushes _me_ away?" she asked.

"Then _he's_ an idiot, and he doesn't deserve you," Tom said matter-of-factly.

Danielle flopped backwards onto her bed with a huff. "Why does stuff like this have to be so complicated?" she asked.

"Because it's high school. _Everything_ is complicated," Tom said dryly. "You're not the only one dealing with something like this, trust me."

Danielle realized something after he said that. While she had spent the last handful of weeks blabbing away about Jasper, she hadn't bothered to ask Tom if there was anyone at school who had caught _his_ eye. "How's _your_ love life going, Pickles?" she asked. "Tell me it's better than mine."

Tom scoffed, which couldn't mean anything good. "I'll let you know when I actually _get one_ ," he said dismally. Apparently, they were _both_ unlucky in the love department. "Anyway, it's getting late, and I still have homework to finish up."

Danielle cringed when she looked at the clock and realized it was past ten o'clock in Houston. "Why didn't you say something? I would've let you go a lot sooner if I'd known you had stuff to do."

"Hey, when my best friend calls and is in the middle of a crisis, that's _way_ more important than some stupid assignment that won't mean anything to me after tomorrow," Tom told her.

Danielle smiled. "You're the best, Tom," she said fondly. "You know I couldn't live without you, right?"

"Course I do," he said cockily, which made her chuckle. "I really should go, but just...keep your chin up, okay? And keep me in the loop about Jasper. I wanna know what happens after you two see each other again _._ "

"Okay. I will," Danielle promised.

After they said goodbye, Danielle ended the call and set her phone down so she could rub her eyes. Tom had certainly given her a lot to think about, that was for sure. Was he right about what he had said, though? Had she misinterpreted this whole situation with Jasper?

She had absolutely no idea. All she knew was that she was dreading tomorrow, and there weren't enough encouraging words in the world that would change that.

* * *

It took a lot of mental pep-talking and a significant amount of willpower, but Danielle managed to drag herself out of bed for school the next morning, even though going to school was the absolute _last_ thing she wanted to do. For the first time in a _long_ time, she was not in anyway looking forward to seeing Jasper, and she was _not_ looking forward to having to sit through the classes they had together. They were going to be the worst, most painfully awkward moments of her life, she just knew it.

Once she was dressed and had eaten breakfast, she grabbed her backpack and headed out to meet Bella at the truck. Bella was waiting for her already, and as Danielle walked toward her, dragging her feet the entire way, she was certain her friend could tell that she wasn't in a good mood.

"Hey," Bella greeted gently.

"Hey," Danielle said back, trying not to sound as glum as she felt.

Bella looked like she wanted to ask her what was going on. Danielle, however, just kept her mouth shut and her eyes down as she set her bag in the bed of the truck, before heading for the passenger side door. Bella sighed and finally followed her lead, putting her bag in the back and then climbing into the cab.

They began making their way to school, driving along in silence at first. Danielle kept her eyes glued to the window, taking these last moments before school to mentally prepare herself for whatever she was about to face. She felt Bella's eyes on her, but she didn't meet her friend's gaze. Finally, when she seemed unable to stand the silence any longer, Bella cleared her throat and spoke.

"Jessica called me last night," she revealed. "She wanted my permission to ask Mike to the dance."

The comment was enough to make Danielle quirk a brow and turn a questioning look on Bella. "Why was she asking _your_ permission?" she asked.

Bella shrugged. "I guess she thought _I_ was going to ask him," she said. "I told her I wasn't going to the dance and that I thought it would be a great idea if she asked him," Bella said with a nod, which didn't surprise Danielle. She was sure her friend would be fond of _any_ idea that would get Mike off her back. "I told her she should encourage Angela to ask Eric to the dance, too. After what we all talked about yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to get another person trying to push Angela in the right direction."

Danielle nodded. "Good idea."

Their conversation lulled for a moment. Bella kept her eyes on the road, while Danielle shifted in her seat and picked at a string that had come loose from the hem of her shirt.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened yesterday?" Bella finally asked.

Danielle hesitated, then finally decided she might as well tell Bella the truth. "I asked Jasper to the Spring Fling," she revealed, which made Bella look at her with wide eyes. Before Bella had the chance to ask what his response had been, Danielle frowned and turned her eyes back to the window. "He said no."

"Oh," Bella said quietly. There was a long pause of silence, then she said, "Dani, I'm sorry." Danielle glanced at Bella again, who was watching her with a sympathetic frown. "That really sucks."

Danielle mustered up a halfhearted smile in return. "Thanks," she said without much enthusiasm.

"Are you…alright?" Bella asked with concern.

Danielle shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not _great_ ," she admitted. "I feel pretty dumb, and I'm definitely not looking forward to seeing him. But…what's done is done," she said with a slow nod. "There's nothing I can do now but hope he doesn't hate my guts and hope we can still salvage our friendship."

"Jasper doesn't hate your guts," Bella said at once.

Danielle quirked a brow. "How do _you_ know?"

"Because I see the way you two are together," Bella said matter-of-factly. "He's not going to suddenly hate you just because you asked him to a stupid _dance_. Things might be awkward for a bit, but…it'll get better," she said with optimism.

Danielle sighed. "Yeah, maybe."

Despite her friend's encouraging words, Danielle couldn't help the doubt still swirling through her veins. As much as she wanted to believe both Bella _and_ Tom when they told her there was still a chance that all of this would work out in the end, after what had happened the day before, she wasn't going to get her hopes up. She had already let herself get her hopes up once and it had blown up in her face – she wasn't sure she'd be able to handle something like that a second time around.

When Forks High finally came into view, Danielle immediately felt her palms begin to sweat. The moment she had been dreading was drawing closer and closer with each passing second. Bella turned into the school parking lot and parked in the first available space she spotted, but neither one of them made any moves to get out the truck just yet. Danielle's eyes searched the lot for any of the Cullen cars, her heart launching up into her throat when she spotted a fancy vehicle parked only a few spaces over. Jasper was there already. And he probably wasn't looking forward to seeing her, either.

"Is it too late to make a run for it?" Danielle asked, turning helpless eyes on Bella.

Bella smiled sympathetically. "If you don't face him today, you'll just have to do it tomorrow," she said wisely. She was right, of course. "Might as well get it over with, right?"

Danielle seriously contemplated just chickening out and skipping school for another second or two, until she finally realized that skipping would solve absolutely nothing. She sucked in a deep breath through her nose, then let it out slowly, her eyes closing for a moment. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at Bella again, before nodding. "Alright."

Bella reached over to pat her shoulder, then opened the door and got out of the truck. Danielle followed her lead, and once they had collected their backpacks from the bed of the truck, they started making their way up to the school. As they walked, Danielle's eyes jumped all around, always on the lookout for a familiar head of blonde hair. When they managed to make it across the parking lot without running into – or even _seeing_ – any Cullen's, Danielle began to breathe a bit easier. She knew she would still be seeing Jasper when she went to her first period class, but at least she had a few more minutes to get herself together before their impending meeting.

Unfortunately, any relief she felt was short lived. Because the moment she and Bella ascended the stairs that led from the parking lot to the school, she saw him.

Jasper was outside, standing by himself not far from the entrance to the school, his spine stiff as a board. When their gazes met he stood even straighter, his shoulders squaring a bit. He must have been waiting for her to show up, because he immediately came marching toward her with purposeful steps.

Danielle stood rooted to the spot at the top of the stairs, not even noticing when other students complained about her standing in the way as they brushed past her. Bella stopped too, her eyes darting back and forth between Danielle and the approaching Jasper. She seemed unsure whether she should stay or not.

Jasper finally came to a halt right in front of Danielle. The only sign that he was nervous came in the form of a gulp. Other than that, he was radiating nothing but pure determination.

"Can we talk?" he asked, his tone careful, but his eyes pleading.

Danielle immediately heard Tom's voice in her head. _If he tries to talk to you, listen to what he has to say_. Danielle was nervous as hell, but she cleared her throat and nodded her head. "Sure," she said. She glanced at Bella, who still lingered nearby, and motioned for her to continue on without her. "I'll see you in Spanish, okay?"

Bella slowly nodded. "Okay," she said. Bella gave Jasper one last look, then started to leave. She turned back whenever Jasper wasn't looking, however, and gave Danielle a discreet thumbs up. _Good luck¸_ she mouthed silently.

With Bella gone, Jasper gestured for Danielle to follow him off to the side, so that they wouldn't be standing right in the middle of the walkway anymore. Danielle went with him toward a spot where no other students were, where they would be able to talk without anyone overhearing them. Danielle crossed her arms over her chest as Jasper turned to face her, doing her best to keep her expression neutral.

For a long few moments, Jasper didn't say anything. He just looked at her, his eyes studying her face intently, his lips pressed together tightly. Considering the way he had approached her, she had thought he had planned out something to say to her. Now, however, it seemed like he didn't know how to put what was in his mind into words.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" Danielle finally asked, his silence only making her more anxious. "Or did you have something to say to me?"

Jasper blinked, then cleared his throat. "I do have something to say to you," he confirmed with a nod. "Danielle…I'm sorry," he told her sincerely. "All I've been able to think about is what happened yesterday." His eyes began to fill with regret now. "I hurt your feelings, I know I did. And I _hate_ myself for it."

Danielle sighed heavily. She felt as though she could feel every _ounce_ of Jasper's guilt and regret, as if the emotions were her very own. It made _her_ feel guilty, too. Why should Jasper feel so guilty for turning her down? It wasn't _his_ fault that he didn't feel the same way she did.

"You don't have to apologize, Jasper. It's not your fault," she told him gently. Danielle then gave him a sad smile and shrugged. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting you to say yes," she admitted. "The rejection really wasn't much of a surprise. Deep down, I think I knew it was coming all along."

Jasper hesitated, then gave her a very serious look. "That's where you're wrong," he said. "I _wasn't_ rejecting you."

Danielle's brain instantly stopped functioning properly. She stared at him for a moment, completely caught off guard by what he had just said, her mouth opening and closing like a fish as she tried to make her vocal chords work again. "Wait…what do you mean?" she finally managed to ask.

Jasper raked a hand through his hair again, just like he had done the day before when she'd asked him to the dance. Danielle was beginning to suspect it was something he did whenever he was exceedingly nervous or frustrated.

"I already told you how I feel about school dances. I think they're awkward and _ridiculous_ , and I have _never_ felt the desire to attend them," he began to explain. Jasper paused, his gaze intensifying a little. "But this is different. _You_ are different," he said, which made her heart skip a beat. He finally gave her a flicker of a smile. "Believe me when I say that I would love nothing more than to go to that silly dance with you."

Danielle suddenly had to resist the urge to grin like an idiot. Jasper _wasn't_ rejecting her. Jasper _did_ want to go to the dance with her. "You do?" she asked, almost afraid that it was too good to be true.

Jasper nodded. "Yes." In the next moment, however, he frowned. "But just as I said yesterday, I'm not sure it's a good idea. I feel…" Jasper paused and pressed his lips together tightly, once again looking like he was struggling with what to say. "I feel it might be… _unsafe,"_ he finally said.

As thrilled as Danielle was with this unexpected turn of events, she still frowned with confusion. "I'm sure there's gonna be chaperones there," she said reassuringly, not sure she knew what Jasper was afraid of. "And considering _nothing_ seems to happen in this town, I don't think anything crazy is gonna happen."

Jasper shook his head. "That's not what I'm worried about," he told her.

Danielle raised her brows unsurely. "What _are_ you worried about, then?"

"Going to a dance requires, well… _dancing_ ," he said, and for one stupid moment, she thought his reluctance was due to him thinking she would judge him for his dancing skills…or, perhaps, lack thereof. "Dancing requires getting very close to one another, and it means a lot of touching," he continued. "And that might make things… _difficult_ for me."

"I'm not following," Danielle admitted with a shake of her head. She was too caught up in the thought of spending an entire evening dancing with Jasper to understand whatever it was he was trying to tell her. How wonderful would it be, to be wrapped up in his arms? To be so close to him? To be surrounded by that wonderful piney scent as they slow danced together? It sounded downright _heavenly._

Jasper closed his eyes for a moment, then gave her another serious look. "There are things you don't know about me, Danielle. Things I haven't told you."

His words were enough to bring her daydreams to a screeching halt. Her brows furrowed together and uneasiness crept into her belly. "What do you mean?" she asked uncertainly. "What kind of things?"

"Things that I'm not sure I want you to know about yet," Jasper said with a shake of his head.

Danielle pressed her lips together tightly, not sure she knew how to feel about what he had just said.

Whatever this _secret_ of his was, it sounded serious. But what could it possibly be? Certainly it couldn't be anything _too_ bad, right?

She suddenly remembered something Jasper had said to her several weeks ago, when he'd been walking her to her mother's bookshop. He had mentioned that before he had been adopted, when he'd still been living in Texas, that he hadn't been in a very good situation. It made her wonder now if maybe this secret of his had something to do with his upbringing. Had something happened to him before Carlisle and Esme had adopted him? Had someone _...harmed_ him in some way?

As much as she didn't want to think about that possibility, if it _was_ true, it would certainly explain why he was so reluctant to get too close to anyone. Did he not want to tell her because he didn't like to talk about it? Or was he afraid it was something she might judge him for?

Danielle's head was filling with questions, questions that she now very much wanted the answers to. But when she saw the vulnerability in his eyes, she held her tongue. Jasper was clearly _way_ out of his comfort zone already – she didn't want to push him into talking about his past if it was something he wasn't ready to tell her yet. It would be torture, having all these unanswered questions in the back of her mind. But she cared about Jasper, and whatever his secrets were, she cared enough to wait until he _was_ ready to tell her.

"Okay," she finally said, nodding slowly.

Jasper gave her an uncertain look. "Okay?" he echoed, as if he had expected her to pry and was surprised that she wasn't.

"Yeah," Danielle said with a nod. "I mean, I'm not gonna lie and say I'm _not_ curious to know what exactly it is that you're talking about," she admitted. "But if you're not ready to tell me about it, I won't try to make you."

Jasper gave her a long look, as if he didn't know what to make of her. "Why are you being so understanding of all this?" he finally asked, sounding completely confused.

Danielle just gave him a shrug. "Because I trust you," she told him. "And because I _care_ about you."

Danielle internally cringed as those last words left her lips. She hadn't meant to say that last part. It had just slipped out on its own. She held her breath as Jasper gulped again, waiting to hear what he had to say and praying she hadn't just put her foot in it again. Jasper stared at her intently, then finally sighed and shook his head, which made her heart freeze in her chest.

"I've never been in a situation like this before," Jasper revealed, motioning back and forth between them. "I've never allowed myself to become so… _involved_ …with someone. In fact, I've never _wanted_ to become involved with anyone. But like I said, you're _different_." Jasper looked down at her hand, then slowly, gently, reach out to grab it. The feel of his cold hand locking around hers sent tingles up her arm. "I care about you, too, Danielle," he admitted quietly, which made her heart instantly soar. "You're not just a friend to me. You're… _more_ than that. But I don't know where we go from here," he said with a shake of his head. "I don't know how to handle this. I don't – "

"Jasper," she interjected gently, which made him fall silent. "This is all new to me, too," she admitted, because she had never had an actual boyfriend before, and though she wouldn't dare go as far as to say that Jasper was her boyfriend now, she very much hoped that their relationship was currently headed in that direction. "We don't have to figure everything out right this second, okay? There's no rush here," Danielle told him reassuringly. "Why don't we just…take it one day at a time?"

Jasper took a long moment to contemplate what she had said, then gave her a small smile. "I can agree with that plan," he told her with a nod of his head.

Danielle grinned, then shook her head in bemusement. This day had ended up going a _completely_ different way than she had anticipated. When she had woken up that morning, she had fully expected that Jasper wouldn't want to even _look_ at her, let alone talk to her. Instead, they had talked things through and worked things out. And the cherry on top? Jasper _cared_ about her as more than a friend, and she had finally been able to admit her real feelings. It was more than she could have ever hoped for.

"I am _so_ glad I didn't skip school today," she mused aloud, just knowing that she looked like a love-struck puppy as she stared into Jasper's amber colored eyes.

Jasper smirked. "You were going to skip?"

"After making such a colossal _ass_ of myself yesterday? You better believe I was thinking about it," she said with a scoff.

Jasper frowned a bit. "If anyone was being an ass, it was _me_ ," he said.

Danielle just gave him a look. "How about we just say that we were _both_ asses and leave it at that?" she suggested.

Jasper nodded. "Alright," he agreed, though he still didn't look convinced.

A momentary silence passed between them. Jasper stared at her, his eyes fixed on hers as if trying to peer into her very soul. Danielle just smiled back at him, delighted with the way things had gone. Tom had been right after all, which probably shouldn't have been a surprise seeing as Tom was usually right about _everything_. She made a mental note to text him the moment she got a chance and tell him how well everything had played out between her and Jasper.

"Thank you for talking with me," Jasper finally said to break the silence. "After what happened yesterday, I thought…" He paused, as if he wasn't sure how much he should reveal. Finally, he seemed to decide to just say it. "I was afraid maybe I had… _lost_ you," he admitted, his tone betraying just how worried he had truly been.

Since his hand was still holding hers, Danielle took the opportunity to give his hand a comforting squeeze. "I'm not going _anywhere_ , Jasper," she told him, giving him a small smile. "I'm not _that_ easy to get rid of."

Jasper smiled, looking relieved.

Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, Danielle was hit with such a strong rush of affection that it damn near knocked the wind out of her. The feeling faded as quickly as it had arrived, leaving her to shake her head in complete and utter confusion and look at Jasper with dazed eyes, unsure what exactly had just happened. What the hell _was_ that? And why did things like this always seem to happen around Jasper? Was she losing her damned _mind_?

The bell finally rang, which pulled Danielle away from her confused thoughts. They had been standing there talking for a while. It was time to get to class. "I believe that's our cue," Jasper said, frowning a bit as he glanced at the school.

Danielle sighed with disappointment, then nodded. The prospect of staying outside with Jasper, where they could talk and be alone, sounded far more appealing than going to class, but she knew they didn't really have a choice in the matter.

Jasper reluctantly released her hand, then they turned and started to slowly make their way toward the front doors, following the crowd of students that was now making their way inside. The two of them shuffled along with their classmates, walking close to one another, sharing small, discreet smiles whenever they caught each other sneaking looks. Danielle was so happy she felt like she was walking on air, and if the smile still playing on Jasper's lips was any indicator, _he_ was happy, too.

Once they were in the school, they started toward Danielle's locker first. When they passed by a big sign for the Spring Fling, she was struck with the realization that she still didn't know if they were actually going to the dance or not.

"So wait," Danielle said, looking at Jasper curiously. "Just to clarify…are we, or are we not, going to the dance?"

Jasper blinked with what seemed like surprise, as if he had forgotten about the dance, too. Considering the direction their conversation had gone, she couldn't blame him for forgetting about it. He looked down at her and quirked an uncertain brow. "You really want to go?" he asked.

"Only if you do," Danielle said with a shrug.

Jasper took a moment to think about it, his expression a bit hesitant. Finally, he nodded. "Alright, then," he said. "We'll go."

Danielle fought the urge to grin with joy, instead raising her brows at Jasper questioningly. "You're sure?" she asked. "I know you weren't really sold on the idea. I don't wanna make you do something you don't really want to."

Jasper gave her a look. "Danielle," he said, his tone gentle, but firm. "It's fine. We'll go to the dance."

Danielle _did_ grin then. Jasper smiled back, then turned his eyes forward again.

Suddenly, Jasper stopped. Something down the hall had caught his attention, making him freeze in place. Danielle stopped next to him and frowned with confusion, before following his gaze to see what he was looking at. It didn't take long for her to discover what had caught Jasper's eye, and when she did, she felt her stomach turn uneasily.

Rosalie and Alice, Jasper's sisters, were standing a little ways down the hallway. Both of the beautiful girls had spotted them, and though Alice – whom Danielle still had not formally met – was eyeing her and Jasper with a little smile on her lips, the same could not be said for Rosalie. The blonde had her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her eyes narrowed with disapproval as she looked first at Jasper, then at Danielle. After a moment, she scoffed and shook her head, before storming off. Alice hesitated, then quickly hurried after her.

Danielle and Jasper watched the two go, before turning a look on each other. "And you say Rosalie _doesn't_ hate me?" Danielle asked with skepticism.

"Just ignore her," Jasper said, looking none too pleased with the way his sister was behaving. "I'll have a talk with her later." Danielle started to tell him that wasn't necessary, that she didn't want there to be even _more_ drama with Rosalie, but before she got the chance to say anything, Jasper motioned her forward with a nod of his head. "Let's go before we're late for class."

Danielle hesitated, then finally nodded and followed him.

* * *

Eventually she was able to push any thoughts of Rosalie to the back of her mind for the time being. Was she still vaguely aware of the dark looks being tossed her direction from Jasper's twin during first period? Of course she was – there was no way Danielle _wouldn't_ be able to notice the fact that Rosalie seemed to be doing her best to burn holes into her head with her eyes. But Rosalie sending her death glares wasn't anything new, and considering how _incredible_ of a morning Danielle was having, she didn't think there was anything in the world that could have dampened her spirits.

Nothing was going to rain on her parade today. Not even Rosalie Hale and her glaringly obvious dislike for her.

She ignored Rosalie's presence in first period, and noticed – but didn't care – that Jordan had switched seats in second period, so that he was no longer sitting behind her. Other than that, her focus was solely on Jasper. Danielle smiled like an idiot during both classes and kept sneaking glances at him every two seconds. Paying attention to her teachers proved to be an impossible feat, so much so that she eventually gave up altogether.

How was she supposed to focus on schoolwork when Jasper was sitting right next to her, looking insanely gorgeous and shooting her charming smiles whenever the teacher wasn't looking? It was _impossible._

"You're bad for my education," Danielle commented after English was over and they were headed toward her third period class.

"How so?" Jasper asked with amusement.

"Because you're _distracting,"_ Danielle told him bluntly. "I couldn't tell you _one thing_ that either of our teachers said in the last two classes," she admitted.

Jasper smirked, and if she wasn't mistaken, he looked mighty pleased with himself. "I'm sorry," he said with a shrug, though she didn't think he sounded all that apologetic. Suddenly Jasper leaned a bit closer, so that his lips were only mere inches from her ear. "But just so you know, you're not the only one who was distracted this morning," he confessed suggestively.

Danielle flushed bright red, not sure which affected her more – his close proximity, that piney scent that always made her brain go a little fuzzy, or the sound of his deep, smooth voice in her ear. It was the first time Jasper had been openly flirtatious with her, and the effect it had on her was palpable. "You're making me blush," she said, stating the obvious.

"You blush quite a bit, in case you hadn't noticed," he said, his tone teasing now.

"Trust me, I'm aware," Danielle shot back. "It's one of the downfalls of being a redhead. Blushing is as easy as _breathing_ for me."

Jasper's smirk widened. "Want to know a secret?" he asked. He leaned close again. "I rather _like_ seeing you blush."

Danielle looked at him, her mind going a little fuzzy at the mischievous look in his eyes. _Jesus._ She was kind of _glad_ he'd never flirted with her before. If he had been flirting with her all this time, she would have gone braindead ages ago.

"Well, well, _well_ ," someone said behind them, making them both jump in surprise.

They looked back to see that Emmett had appeared and was walking behind them, though Danielle had no idea how long he had been there for. She would guess he'd been there long enough, since he was looking at them with what she could only describe as a big, shit-eating grin.

"What do we have _here_?" he taunted.

Danielle blushed for a new reason now, while Jasper shot his bigger, taller brother an annoyed look. "I'm walking Danielle to class, just as I always do," he said evenly.

Emmett's eyes were sparkling with amusement as he pushed his way between them, much to the dismay of both Danielle _and_ Jasper. "Is that so?" he asked, before turning his attention to Danielle. "Is this guy bothering you, Dani?" he asked, jerking his thumb toward Jasper. "You want me to rough him up for you?"

Jasper heaved and rolled his eyes, which just seem to tickle Emmett even more. Even though part of her was a bit disappointed that Emmett had interrupted their little moment, she couldn't help but laugh at her friend's antics. It was obvious that he took great pleasure in giving Jasper a hard time. It was also obvious that Jasper didn't care for it very much. Deciding to come to Jasper's defense, Danielle stopped laughing and quirked a brow at Emmett.

"What if _you're_ the one who's bothering me, Em?" she countered. "Who do I get to rough _you_ up?"

Jasper smirked and immediately gestured toward himself. "I would be _more_ than happy to volunteer for that job," he told her with a nod, which made Danielle laugh again.

Emmett huffed and shoved his brother's shoulder. "I'd like to see you try, _Jazzy-poo_ ," he challenged. Danielle snorted at the nickname Emmett had given his brother.

Jasper raised his brows and shoved Emmett back. "Are you forgetting how many times I've put you in your place in the past, _brother_?" he shot back.

Emmett shoved him yet again and started to say something else in response, but Danielle finally stepped in front of them and held a hand up to make them both be quiet. Jasper and Emmett looked at her with raised brows. "Alright, boys. There's _way_ too much testosterone flying around right now. Knock it off. _Both_ of you," she said authoritatively.

Emmett shared a look with Jasper, then snorted. "You sound like our _mother_ ," he said accusingly, before moving past her and continuing on.

Danielle looked at Jasper, who just shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. Emmett and I tend to get a little… _competitive_ with each other," he admitted as they resumed walking next to one another, trailing behind Emmett as he led the way to History.

"I can see that," she said with a smirk. "I'm sure your parents just _love_ it," she added jokingly.

"Course they do," Jasper confirmed, though the way Emmett chuckled ahead of them and the twinkle in Jasper's eye told her that wasn't even close to being true.

Eventually the time came when they reached her and Emmett's next class. Emmett said goodbye to Jasper and strode into the classroom, but Danielle lingered outside as long as she could. She wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to him yet. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing they had more classes together, just so she could see more of him throughout the day.

"You'll sit with me at lunch today?" she asked hopefully.

Jasper nodded and smiled. "It would be a privilege and an honor."

"Great," Danielle said, smiling widely. She glanced around, saw that the halls were starting to empty out, and knew it was almost time for class to start. "You should get going before you're late," she suggested, even though the last thing she wanted was for him to leave. "I'll see you in a few hours, okay?"

Jasper nodded, then, after one last lingering look, he finally strode off. Danielle sighed happily to herself, then went into her History class.

As she eased into her seat, she was not the least bit surprised to see the knowing smirk that Emmett was shooting her way. Danielle calmly unpacked her things for class, unable to wipe off the smile that seemed permanently etched onto her face. When a few seconds passed and Emmett still had not turned his gaze from her, she looked over at him questioningly.

"Something on your mind?" she asked.

Emmett's smirk grew. "You and Jasper looked pretty chummy," he commented. "I take it things are back to normal now?"

Danielle cocked an eyebrow at him. "Jasper told you what happened yesterday?"

Emmett huffed. "Dani, he's my _brother_ ," he reminded her. "Believe it or not, we actually _talk_ to each other and turn to each other for advice when we need it. And when it comes to Jasper needing advice about _you_ , who in the Cullen family do you think he goes to?" he asked with a meaningful look.

Danielle made a sound of understanding. Of _course_ Jasper would turn to Emmett for advice. She and Emmett had gotten close, which made him one of the few people in Forks, Washington who knew her the best. It made perfect sense that Jasper would go to him to figure out the best way to mend things between them.

"You make a good point," Danielle told him with a nod. "And to answer your question, _yes,_ things are definitely back to normal." But then she thought about everything she and Jasper had discussed, and how different everything had felt between them since. She smiled sappily, her cheeks turning a bit pink. "Actually, things are _better_ than normal."

Emmett smiled, and this time there was no sarcasm or teasing behind it. He seemed genuinely pleased. "So then what happens next?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know," Danielle told him honestly, her shoulders shrugging. "We'll just have to wait and see, I guess."

Emmett nodded his understanding. "Well, just so you know, you've got _my_ support in all this," he told her with a firm nod. "There are… _some_ …in the family who might not see things the same way I do," he admitted, and she had a very strong feeling he was referring to Rosalie. "But I've seen a huge change in Jasper since you came along. A _good_ change. This is the happiest I've seen him in a really, _really_ long time. And at the end of the day, that's all I want for my brother. For him to be happy. That's all I want for _you,_ too," he told her seriously. "So whatever happens from here on out…I'm rooting for you guys."

Danielle felt of rush of both gratitude and fondness for the Cullen sitting next to her. Emmett was usually a sarcastic, cocky, and, at times, _annoying_ goofball who didn't take a lot of things very seriously. But there _were_ times, like _now_ , where he showed a more serious, heartfelt side to himself. The truth of the matter was that Emmett Cullen could be downright _sweet_ when he really wanted to be.

"Wow," she said, having to clear her throat. "Thanks, Em," Danielle said, giving him a grateful smile.

Emmett just smirked and inclined his head. "You're welcome."

* * *

It was a little easier to concentrate in History because Jasper wasn't there, but not by much. For the most part, Danielle was able to listen to the teacher and actually process what she was teaching, though there were still plenty of times where she caught herself tuning the teacher out completely, her mind filling with thoughts of Jasper while she absentmindedly doodled little hearts on the corner of the paper she was supposed to be taking notes on. Just the mere thought of him made her smile to herself, made her heart flutter in her chest.

When History was over, she said goodbye to Emmett and headed toward Spanish. It was a class that she _always_ hoped would go by quickly, simply because by the time she made it to fourth period, she was almost always starving and eager to get to lunch. Today, however, she was anxious for Spanish to pass by quickly so that she could reunite with Jasper, who she missed probably more than was acceptable. It was silly, of course, to miss him when he was in the same building and she'd seen him only a few hours ago, but she just couldn't help it.

Usually Bella beat her to Spanish and was already sitting in her seat by the time Danielle arrived. Today, however, she was surprised to see that Bella was waiting for her outside the classroom, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. When she spotted Danielle, she immediately rushed to meet her halfway.

"I've been _dying_ to talk to you all morning," she said in a rush. "What happened with Jasper after I left?" she then asked, looking very eager to know. "Is everything okay?"

Danielle grinned and nodded her head. "Everything is _great_ ," she said. She quickly summarized what they had talked about, not wanting to go into _too_ much detail simply because there were certain parts of that conversation that she felt had been just for _them_ to know about. When she was finished, she smiled again. "So everything is good, _really_ good, and Jasper and I are going to the dance together," she concluded. "All is right in the world again."

Bella gave her a relieved look. "I'm so happy to hear that, Dani," she told her earnestly. "I'm _really_ glad you guys talked everything out."

"Me too," Danielle agreed.

"So what now?" Bella asked as they walked into class together and slid into their desks. "Are you guys…" She paused and glanced around, then leaned forward. "Are you guys together now?" Bella asked, lowering her voice so nobody would be able to eavesdrop.

Danielle shrugged. "Technically? No, I don't think so," she answered. "We're just taking things one day at a time right now."

"Got it," Bella said, nodding in understanding.

The bell rang after that, and Danielle had never been so happy for Spanish to start. She settled in and focused on the lesson, thinking that maybe if she paid really close attention that the time would go by faster. That worked for all of about five minutes before she found her eyes drifting to the clock hanging above the chalkboard. _Five minutes down, forty-five to go_ , she thought to herself. But who was counting, right?

Between constantly watching the clock and her own growing impatience, Spanish absolutely _dragged_. But finally, _mercifully_ , the bell rang and it was time to go to lunch. Danielle quickly packed her things, then practically jumped out of her seat. She and Bella left class together and started making their way to the cafeteria, but in her eagerness to get to lunch and see Jasper, Danielle set a quick pace that left Bella struggling to keep up.

"Dani, slow down!" Bella pleaded. "Your legs are longer than mine! I can barely keep up with you!"

Danielle gave her a sheepish smile as she forced herself to slow down. "Sorry. I'm just – "

"Ready to see Jasper again?" Bella interjected, accurately predicting what Danielle had been about to say. "I don't blame you. I'd probably be the same way if I was in your shoes."

They walked in silence for a few moments, this time walking much slower. Danielle looked over at Bella and noticed that her friend had a pensive look on her face now, as if she had started thinking about something. That something, whatever it was, appeared to be bothering her a bit.

"What's on your mind?" Danielle asked, nudging her with her elbow.

Bella blinked and looked at Danielle, then sighed. "I was thinking about…" She trailed off, then shook her head. "Never mind. It's not important."

Danielle gave her a knowing look. She'd seen this sort of evasiveness from Bella before, and they'd had this conversation – or, rather, _non-_ conversation – enough times for her to know _exactly_ what Bella was thinking about. "You're thinking about Edward, aren't you?" Bella hesitated, then nodded. "Has anything changed with him? Anything at all?" Danielle asked.

"No," Bella answered. "He just keeps on ignoring me, like he does every single day."

Danielle sighed and shook her head. "I've said it before but I'll say it again – I just don't _get_ it," she said with a clueless shrug. "What's his deal?"

"If I knew, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Bella replied dryly.

Danielle pursed her lips thoughtfully as they walked, before turning a look on Bella. "Do you want me to try asking Jasper what's going on with him?" she offered.

" _No_ ," Bella denied at once. "You've already tried asking him _and_ Emmett, and neither of them had an explanation. If you keep asking him, he might tell Edward. And the _last_ thing I want is for Edward to think that I'm pestering people for information about him," she explained quickly. "So thank you, but… _no_."

Danielle nodded. "Alright, I won't say anything. But if you change your mind, the offer is still on the table. All you have to do is ask and I'll start snooping around."

Bella gave her a halfhearted smile. "Thanks."

They bumped into Angela and Jessica again a few minutes later, who joined them on their journey to the cafeteria. Angela told them that she had spoken to Eric and Mike about their upcoming trip out to La Push and that she had more details about the get together. Mike's father owned a store in town, and the plan was to meet there around ten in the morning on Saturday before they would all carpool to La Push. They were going to go to a beach called First Beach, where they would have a picnic, surf, hike, and just generally have as much fun as possible. It sounded like it was shaping up to be an all day affair.

While Angela explained all the details, Danielle was suddenly struck with the idea to invite Jasper to tag along. She hadn't thought about it the day before because she'd been worried about other things at the time, but now that things were good between her and Jasper, she thought it would be really nice to have him there with her. Sure, he didn't know the others and might feel awkward, but she didn't think it would hurt to try. It would be the perfect excuse to hang out with him outside of school.

Danielle made up her mind quickly. She was going to invite Jasper to join them in La Push.

They reached the cafeteria, and to Danielle's delight, she saw that Jasper was already there and had already claimed their table. She signaled that she would be there shortly – she mentally patted herself on the back for learning from her mistake the previous day – and followed her friends to the lunch line to get food. Once she had her food, she said goodbye to her friends and headed toward Jasper, determined to get there before anyone could stop her this time.

Unfortunately, she didn't succeed. She made it only about five steps when a very pretty girl with short, dark hair and a friendly smile practically appeared from out of nowhere.

Danielle stopped in surprise. It was Alice Cullen.

"Hi," Alice said, smiling brightly.

Danielle, confused, glanced over her shoulder just to make sure that there was no one behind her and that Alice was _actually_ talking to _her_ and not someone else. When she saw that nobody was behind her, she turned back to Alice, who was still smiling at her.

"Er…hi," Danielle said unsurely.

"I'm Alice, Jasper's sister," she introduced herself.

"I know," Danielle said without thinking about it. When she remembered that that wasn't how she was supposed to respond in situations like this, she tried again. "I'm Danielle," she told her.

"I know," Alice echoed. She tilted her head curiously, her eyes narrowing a bit with thought. Danielle noticed that just like all of her brothers, she too had amber colored eyes. _Strange that they all have the same eye color when most of them aren't really related,_ she thought to herself.

"What do you like to be called?" Alice asked, drawing her from her thoughts. "Jasper always calls you Danielle, but I hear everyone else call you Dani," she pointed out. "Which do you prefer?" she asked.

Danielle blinked with surprise – it was only now that she was realizing that Jasper _was_ the only person she knew who still called her Danielle. She found herself wondering why that was. "You can call me Dani if you want," Danielle answered.

Alice smiled brightly again. "Okay," she said with a nod. "Sorry to catch you off guard," she then apologized. "I've just heard so many good things about you from Jasper and Emmett. Jasper talks about you so much I feel like I already _know_ you," she admitted with a tinkling laugh. "I've been dying to meet you, so I finally decided to just come over here and introduce myself."

Hearing Alice say that made Danielle smile and glance toward Jasper. He was watching them closely, looking mildly alarmed by the fact that she was currently talking to his sister. "Well, I'm happy to finally meet you," Danielle said, shifting her attention back to Alice. "I've heard a lot of good things about you, too." Which was _mostly_ true – Jasper and Emmett always spoke highly of her, but everyone else in school thought Alice was just plain weird.

"Oh, that's good," Alice said. She still hadn't stopped smiling. "Most people think I'm strange, so it's nice to know at least _someone_ is saying something good about me."

Danielle blinked at her, then smiled, finding that she kind of liked how blunt and straightforward Alice was. "Strange isn't necessarily a _bad_ thing," Danielle offered. "As a good friend of mine has said many, many times, normal people are _boring_ ," she joked, thinking back to all the times she'd heard Tom say that in conversation.

Alice laughed that same, tinkling laugh, her eyes shining with humor. "I like the way you and your friend think, Dani," she said. "Normal people _are_ boring, aren't they?"

Danielle nodded, then unconsciously glanced toward Jasper again. He was still watching them, though now he looked as though he was contemplating coming over to intervene. Alice, noticing Danielle's distraction, followed Danielle's gaze to her brother. When she turned back to face Danielle, she raised her brows.

"Jasper looks a little anxious," she said observantly. "Perhaps we should go and see him?"

Danielle, who didn't need to be asked twice, nodded. "Sure."

With that, they began walking toward the table Jasper was sitting at. Alice walked next to her, hands clasped together, her eyes studying Danielle with interest. "How do you like Forks, Dani?" she asked conversationally.

"It's nice," Danielle answered. "I mean, it was a bit _weird_ at first, but I feel like I've settled in pretty well."

"It's very different from Houston, I imagine," Alice commented. It didn't shock Danielle that Alice knew where she was from. "The gloom and the cold don't bother you?"

Danielle thought about it, then shrugged. "I _do_ miss the sun," she admitted. There hadn't been one truly sunny day since she had moved to Forks, which was a bit depressing. She was almost starting to forget what it felt like to have the warmth of the sun on her skin. "I'm getting used to the weather out here, though. The rain isn't quite as annoying as it used to be, and the cold isn't quite as unbearable these days." She paused, then gave Alice a curious look. "When does it start to warm up around here?"

"It'll be a while yet, unfortunately. And if you're looking for a _Texas_ kind of warmth, I'm afraid you won't find anything like that here," Alice said with a smirk.

Danielle gave her a look. "Trust me, I'm okay with that. Texas heat is _brutal_. Getting away from triple digit temperatures was about the only thing that I looked forward to when my mom and I moved," she assured Alice firmly.

Alice grinned. "Then it sounds like you've come to the right place."

They finally reached the table where Jasper sat, and almost immediately, he stood from his chair. He gave his sister a look that seemed mildly suspicious, then shifted his attention to Danielle. "Hello again," he said, giving her another one of his charming smiles.

"Hi," she said with a grin, setting her tray and her books down on the table. "I finally met your sister," she added, nodding toward Alice.

Jasper looked at Alice again, his smile faltering a bit. Alice just looked back at him, her expression perfectly innocent. "Yes, I can see that," he said slowly. "I had planned to introduce you to her myself, but it seems _someone_ was too impatient to wait," he told her, his eyes never leaving Alice.

Alice tilted her head at him, one brow arching upward. "I _told_ you I wanted to meet her and you kept saying no," she said with exasperation. "So I finally just decided to take matters into my own hands," she finished with a shrug, looking thoroughly unapologetic.

Danielle looked at Jasper in surprise. "Why did you tell her she couldn't meet me?" she asked.

Jasper quickly turned his eyes to her. "I didn't tell her she couldn't meet you," he clarified. "What I told her was that I didn't want her to meet you _yet_."

"But why?" Danielle asked again, still not fully understanding.

Jasper started to answer, but Alice beat him to the punch. "Basically Jasper knew that if we met we'd become friends," she interjected with a sweet smile. "He didn't want me hanging around stealing all your attention away from _him_."

_"Alice_ ," Jasper said sharply, looking both exasperated and embarrassed now.

Danielle pressed her lips together, trying very hard to resist the urge to laugh. Though she felt a little bad for Jasper for being embarrassed by his sister, this conversation just sealed the deal on her feelings toward Alice – weird or not, she _liked_ Alice Cullen. She was nice, but also seemed to have a hefty dose of sassiness to her. Danielle had a feeling that she'd probably be a lot of fun to hang out with.

There was a moment of silence where Jasper glared at his sister, who smiled back at him serenely, and where Danielle glanced back and forth between the two, doing her best to hamper down her amusement. Finally, she cleared her throat and looked at Alice.

"Will you be joining us for lunch?" she asked. Really, she would have rather had lunch with just Jasper. But seeing as Alice was standing right there, inviting her to join them seemed like the polite thing to do.

"Well, since you asked – " Alice began to say.

"No, she won't," Jasper quickly interjected, which made Danielle and Alice both raise their brows at him. "You have somewhere to be, don't you, Alice?" he asked pointedly, the gleam in his eyes clearly telling his sister to scram.

Alice seemed like she wanted to say something, but then she just smirked and nodded. "Yes, I do," she confirmed. Danielle was pretty sure that she was lying and just saying that to appease her annoyed brother. "Thank you for the invitation, though."

"No problem," Danielle said.

When Jasper gave Alice another look, she finally took a step to leave. "I'll leave you two alone now. Have a nice lunch," she said. "Oh, and Dani?" she added. "I hope we can talk again soon."

Danielle smiled. "Me too."

Alice left after that, practically gliding away as she went to reclaim her seat at the normal Cullen table. As Danielle and Jasper sat down, Danielle couldn't help but give Jasper an amused look. When he saw the way she was looking at him, he heaved.

"I wasn't trying to keep you from meeting her, I promise," he insisted. "I just know how Alice can get. Sometimes she says things she isn't supposed to, and I was afraid she might…scare you away," he admitted.

"I'm not upset," she told him reassuringly. "In fact, I thought the whole thing was kinda funny."

Jasper pulled a sour face. "Well, at least _one_ of us did," he grumbled. He shot a glance in his sister's direction, then shook his head. "Let's talk about something else," he suggested, clearly not wanting to spend their time together discussing Alice.

"Okay," Danielle agreed. "I have a question for you," she said, wanting to find out why Jasper didn't call her _Dani_ like everyone else. "Why do you call me Danielle and not Dani?" she asked curiously.

Jasper seemed caught off guard by the question at first, then gave her a lopsided smile. "Your _friends_ call you Dani," he said, before giving her a look that made butterflies erupt in her belly. "Seeing as you are more than just a _friend_ to me, calling you Danielle seems more appropriate."

Danielle blushed immediately, finding that she liked his reason for disregarding her nickname quite a bit. "That's a pretty good reason," she said with a smile.

Jasper smiled back, then reached into his lunch bag to produce an apple. "How has your day been?" he asked to change the subject.

Danielle smiled brightly and nodded her head. "It's been great, though I've been super distracted," she admitted, reaching for the sandwich she'd bought for lunch and taking a bite. She chewed for a moment, then swallowed her food and flashed Jasper a playful smirk. "Some really great guy told me he liked me and that he wanted to go to the dance with me. It's put me in such a good mood that I can't really focus on anything else."

Jasper smiled widely, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. "Is that so?" Danielle nodded in confirmation. "Well, I think this guy, whoever he is, sounds very bad for your education," he teased, throwing her words from earlier back at her.

"Oh yes, absolutely _horrible,"_ Danielle agreed. "But I still like him."

"I'm sure he's very happy to hear that," Jasper said matter-of-factly.

They shared a smile, both amused by their little inside joke. Danielle shifted in her seat after a moment, then felt her heart jump when her knee bumped against his. One of his eyebrows lifted just a fraction of an inch at the contact, but he didn't move his knee away from hers. Danielle didn't move her knee either.

After eating some more food, she peered at Jasper questioningly. "Do you have plans for this weekend?" she asked, remembering her previous decision to invite him to the beach outing.

Jasper shrugged. "Emmett and Edward are planning a long hiking trip, and they've asked me to come along. I haven't decided if I want to go, though. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was talking to Angela about the beach trip and got some more details. We're leaving at ten on Saturday morning, and we're probably gonna be there for most of the day. There's gonna be surfing and hiking and a picnic," she listed off. Jasper nodded as he listened to her. "I was wondering…are you interested in coming along?"

Jasper's expression quickly turned to one of uncertainty as he considered the offer. "You said you're going to La Push?" Danielle nodded in confirmation. Jasper then pursed his lips. "I don't know, Danielle," he said hesitantly. "I've never been much of a beach person myself. And I don't really know anyone in that group."

"You know _me_ ," she argued.

Jasper smiled a bit. "That is true," he conceded. "But a few of the people going seem to have _strong opinions_ when it comes to my family," he reminded her. "I'm not so sure they'd appreciate me tagging along."

"If I told them to play nice, they would," Danielle assured him. "Besides, this would be a good opportunity for them to finally get to _know_ you. I'm sure those opinions might change a bit if they actually had a chance to talk to you."

Jasper wasn't convinced though. "I appreciate you offering, but I don't think I should go," he gently declined. "In fact, I should probably tell my brothers that I'll go hiking with them. I think they'd be upset if I ditched them to go frolicking on the beach with you."

Danielle rather liked the thought of frolicking on the beach with Jasper. "I'm sure they'll get over it," she said, hoping it might change his mind.

Jasper quirked a brow. "You do realize we're talking about _Emmett_ here, right?" he pointed out. "He'd never let me hear the end of it."

Danielle laughed a bit. "I guess you're right." She sighed, then nodded, feeling slightly disappointed. "Alright, fine," she gave in. "You're off the hook. Go have bro time with your brothers this weekend."

Jasper leaned a little closer and gave her a small smile. "You'll still have plenty of fun without me," he said reassuringly.

"Yeah," Danielle agreed. "But I'd have a lot _more_ fun _with_ you," she insisted, giving him a meaningful look.

The smile on Jasper's face faded some, and his gaze suddenly seemed a bit more intense than it just had been. It made Danielle's breath catch in her throat. "I'll make it up to you," Jasper told her, his deep, smooth voice sending pleasant shivers down her spine. "I promise."

Danielle couldn't seem to remember how to speak for a moment. Finally, she nodded. "O-Okay."

Jasper just smirked at her, then relaxed in his seat again. "So," he said, his tone easy and conversational now. "Are you going to try surfing?"

It took a second, but Danielle was eventually able to get her brain working properly again so that she could respond. From there, they had a perfectly normal conversation, talking about surfing and hiking and whatever else came to mind while they ate lunch. Well… _Danielle_ ate lunch, anyway. Jasper just picked at his food, as he always tended to do. She had expressed concern over his apparent lack of appetite once or twice, but he always just waved off her concerns and insisted that there was nothing to worry about, that he just didn't have a big appetite at this time of day. Danielle had eventually gotten to the point where she stopped bringing it up altogether.

After lunch was over, Jasper walked with her to her locker so she could get her books for Physics, then insisted on escorting her to class. She pointed out the fact that it would probably make him late for his _own_ class, but he didn't seem to care. He simply reached over, grabbed her things so that she wouldn't have to carry them, then set off toward her class. Danielle smiled to herself, then, since she didn't have any other choice, she went with him. When he finally dropped her off at Physics, he left her with a sweet smile that had her daydreaming for the rest of the class period.

* * *

By the time Gym rolled around, Danielle's mood had not dampened in the slightest. She was still smiling to herself and still walking with a bounce in her step.

She stepped into the girl's locker room, humming a song under her breath, and made quick work of changing into her gym clothes. Just as she finished changing and started to store her normal clothes and her physics book into her gym locker, Bella came storming in. Her friend set her Biology book on the bench that ran between the rows of lockers with a loud _BANG_ , then roughly opened up her locker to start yanking out her gym clothes. Danielle, who had frozen on the spot in surprise at her friend's noisy arrival, raised her brows with uncertainty.

"Bella?" she asked unsurely. "You okay?"

Bella looked over at her, her eyes alight with anger and annoyance. "No, I'm _not_ okay," she said with a heave.

"Care to elaborate?" Danielle persisted.

Bella heaved again, then sat down heavily on the bench. She shook her head and gave Danielle a helpless look. "Edward finally talked to me," she revealed, which made Danielle's eyes go wide. "Don't get too excited. It did _not_ go well," Bella said, her expression going sour again.

Danielle sighed and sat down on the bench next to her. "Tell me what happened. I'm all ears," she said with a nod.

Bella shook her head in frustration as she launched into the story. "There I was, just sitting there minding my own business while Edward ignored me, just like he always does. Suddenly Mike comes out of nowhere and says that Jess asked him to the Spring Fling, but that he hadn't given her an answer yet because he wanted to know if _I_ had plans to ask him. So I tell him that I'm not going because I'm going to be in Seattle that day – "

"You are?" Danielle interjected with confusion. This was the first she was hearing of Bella's plans to go to Seattle.

"I figured it was the best way to get out of having to go to the dance," Bella explained quickly. "Anyway, I tell him I'm going to be in Seattle and that he should go with Jessica. Mike says he will and then goes to sit down. Suddenly I look over and Edward is just _staring_ at me," she said, her brows furrowing together. "Like, _intense_ staring. Like there's something about me he can't figure out and it frustrates the hell out of him."

Danielle said nothing, just nodded her understanding as her friend continue to talk.

"When class is over, I fully expect him to just get up and leave like he always does. But he doesn't. He suddenly starts talking to me, saying how he knows he's been acting really rude by ignoring me, but how it's better if we don't talk and if we're not friends," she revealed.

Danielle frowned with confusion. "But why?"

Bella threw her hands up. "I don't _know_. It doesn't make any sense," she said with frustration. "So of course I got mad and said something I shouldn't have, which just made things even _worse_."

Danielle gave her a wary look. "What did you say?"

Bella hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed now. "I said…" She paused, then heaved. "I said that if he didn't want to be friends, then it was too bad he hadn't figured it out earlier. Then he wouldn't have had to spend all this time regretting the fact that he saved my life."

Danielle looked at her sharply, her jaw dropping in shock. "You seriously _said_ that?" she asked incredulously. When Bella nodded, Danielle whacked her shoulder. "Dude!" she scolded.

"Ow!" Bella said, rubbing her shoulder with a shocked look. "That hurt!"

"It was _supposed to_ ," Danielle said with a frown. "That was _not cool_ , Bella," she said. "Edward might be a jerk, but he doesn't want you _dead_. How could you accuse him of that?"

"I don't know!" Bella said with exasperation. "I don't know why I said it, okay? I'm just… _irritated_ with him. I mean, the guy _saves my life_ one day, then spends every day for the next month and half treating me like I've got some contagious, flesh-eating bacteria. Then, out of the blue, he decides to start talking to me again and starts saying a bunch of things that don't make any sense? I mean…how am I _supposed_ to feel about that? Like I'm dancing on rainbows?" she asked angrily.

Danielle sighed, her momentary irritation fading away as she saw how frustrated her friend was. "Look, I _get_ why you're angry, I do," she said understandingly. "But fighting with Edward won't make things better. I mean…don't you want to at least _try_ to talk things out with him?"

"I _have_ tried, and it's never gotten me anywhere," Bella reminded her pointedly. She shook her head and scoffed, her brows still stitched together with irritation. "After what happened today, I'm not so sure I _want_ to try to work things out anymore. If he's going to be a confusing jerk, I don't want anything to do with him," she said with a note of finality.

Danielle just sighed in response, unable to think of anything to say back.

The coach stepped into the locker room after that and called for everyone to get to the gym, effectively putting an end to their conversation about Edward. After Bella changed, they joined the rest of the class in the gymnasium, where they spent the rest of the class playing a slow-moving, low-scoring game of basketball. Danielle could tell Bella was clearly still thinking about Edward – she was distracted the whole class period and ended up accomplishing little more than a number of clumsy, ungraceful tumbles to the ground, sometimes falling on her own, other times managing to take down a few people with her. By the end of the class period, Danielle could see a number of bruises appearing on her friend's knees and elbows.

When school ended, they changed back into their normal clothes, went to their lockers, then headed out to the parking lot. As worried as she was for her friend, Danielle couldn't help but feel her spirits lift again when they stepped outside and she saw that Jasper was waiting for her. Bella took one look at him, then continued on without Danielle.

"I'll see you at the truck," she muttered, before breezing past Jasper without making eye contact with him.

Danielle sighed as Bella left, then walked over to Jasper. Jasper stared at Bella's retreating back for a second, then turned an uncertain look on Danielle. "She seems very angry," he commented.

"That's because she _is_ ," Danielle said. "Someone in your family is giving her a hard time and she doesn't really appreciate it," she told him, cocking an eyebrow as she glanced past Jasper's shoulder and saw his siblings hanging out by their car, which was parked a few spaces over from Bella's truck. Edward was watching Bella, his eyes following her unblinkingly. "I don't wanna name any names, but I can give you a hint – it rhymes with _Shmedward._ "

Jasper looked amused at her not so subtle hint, then sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Things with Edward and Bella are…complicated," he told her.

"Well, could you do me a favor and tell your brother to _un-_ complicate it?" she asked. "It kinda seems like he's toying with her, and she doesn't like it. And neither do I," Danielle said with a frown.

Jasper nodded once. "I'll talk to him," he said reassuringly.

Danielle smiled gratefully. "Thank you." She paused for a moment, watching from a distance as Bella talked with someone by the truck. For a split second she thought maybe Edward had gone over to talk to her, but it wasn't him. It was just Eric. Danielle looked back to Jasper, then sighed and flashed him a look of apology. "Sorry if it sounded like I was biting your head off," she said quickly. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just – "

"Looking out for your friend," Jasper finished with a small smile. "Don't worry. I understand."

"Thanks," Danielle said with relief.

He smiled, then motioned for her to walk with him. They began to slowly make their way down to the parking lot, walking side by side.

"I spoke to Emmett and Edward about hiking this weekend. I told them I would go with them," he revealed. "We'll be leaving on Friday."

Danielle frowned, immediately disliking the thought of having to suffer through an entire school day without Jasper. "You're gonna skip?" Jasper nodded in confirmation. "And your parents are okay with that?"

"As long as our grades don't suffer, they don't mind," he said with a shrug.

"Oh, okay," Danielle said. She then gave him a look, just _knowing_ her expression betrayed how disappointed she was. "You _do_ realize Friday is gonna _suck_ now, right?" she asked.

Jasper smiled. "It won't be much better for me, either," he admitted, which made her feel a _little_ better. "So I was thinking," Jasper continued, looking the tiniest bit nervous now. "Maybe tomorrow I can drive my _own_ car instead of carpooling with my siblings. If you'd like, I can pick you up in the morning and take you home after school."

Danielle stopped and looked at him in surprise. Jasper stopped as well, waiting expectantly to hear what she had to say in response. "Really?"

Jasper gave a little shrug. "If it means spending a little more time with you before I leave, then…yes," he told her honestly. "What do you say?"

Danielle immediately nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great," she said, ignoring the way her heart hammered against her ribs. "Let me just write down my address for you."

She quickly delved into her backpack and pulled out the first notebook she found. After locating a pen in the depths of the bag, she scribbled out her address, mindful of the fact that Jasper was watching her every move. When she finished writing the address, she tore the paper out of the notebook and handed it to him. Jasper looked at it for a moment, smiled, then folded it up and slipped it into his pocket.

"I'll come pick you up around seven-thirty," Jasper said. "Is that alright?

Danielle nodded. "Sounds perfect."

"Great," he said, smiling widely.

The sound of a horn honking made them both glance over. Danielle saw that Jasper's siblings had piled into their car and were currently holding up traffic as they waited for Jasper. Bella, she noticed, had gotten into her truck and was stopped behind them, though she appeared to now be talking to Tyler, not Eric, through the driver's side window. A number of cars were lined up behind them, and as they grew more and more impatient with the fact that traffic wasn't moving, more horns began to beep.

"We should go," Danielle suggested. "Our rides are causing a traffic jam. People might start to riot."

Jasper nodded his agreement.

They headed across the parking lot, then said goodbye to one another and veered off toward their respective rides. As Jasper got into the car with his siblings and they drove away, Danielle stepped around the front of Bella's truck and climbed into the cab on the passenger side, unable to help shooting a curious look at Tyler's retreating back as he went back to his own vehicle. As soon as the door was closed, Bella hit the gas and surged forward. Bella looked even more irritated than she had when they'd parted ways.

"What did Tyler want?" Danielle asked.

Bella just waved her off. "Nothing important," she said quickly. "Don't worry about it."

Danielle could sense she wasn't being totally honest, but nodded anyway. Bella never pressured her to talk whenever _she_ didn't want to, so she decided to give her friend the same courtesy and let the subject drop.

They drove home in silence, Bella looking tense and agitated, while Danielle stared out the window with a small smile on her lips. She felt a bit bad for her friend simply because she'd had a rough afternoon, but it wasn't enough to thwart the happiness that had been radiating through her all day long. It had been a _damn_ good day, and now that Jasper was going to be taking her to and from school tomorrow, tomorrow was already shaping up to be a good one, too. Just the thought of being alone in a car with Jasper, away from prying ears and prying eyes…butterflies filled her stomach as Danielle's smile widened, which she made sure to hide behind her hand so that Bella wouldn't see.

She couldn't _wait_ for tomorrow to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left kudos, bookmarked this story, and left comments! You guys rock!


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's.

_Chapter Seven_

Danielle woke well before her alarm went off on Thursday morning, and though she had never considered herself a morning person, on _this_ particular morning, she was bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Already brimming with excitement at the thought of seeing Jasper much earlier than usual, she jumped out of bed and got ready for school, dressing with far more care than she normally would have. She chose to wear a flattering green top, the one her mother always complimented her on whenever she wore it. It was long sleeved, so it was still warm, but the whole top was covered in lace, which gave it a nice feminine touch. She paired it with her favorite pair of jeans and some cute ballet flats, which she knew wouldn't keep her feet warm and would probably leave her regretting putting them on once she stepped outside into the cold, but oh well. Beauty was pain, right?

Danielle put on a bit more makeup than she normally did, put on a pair of golden, dangly earrings, then pinned back the top half of her red, curly hair into a flattering style. When her eyes landed on the bottle of perfume that her mother had given her for Christmas, she contemplated spritzing some on. In the end, she decided against it – she wanted to look good, but she didn't want to overdo it or seem like she was trying too hard.

It was seven twenty by the time she was finished getting ready, which gave her just enough time to have a quick breakfast before Jasper was due to arrive. She left her bedroom and headed downstairs, practically skipping down to the first floor. But the moment she hit the bottom step, she paused as she was hit with the smell of coffee and bacon. That smell could only mean one thing.

Her mother was still home.

Danielle immediately cringed. Usually her mother left early so that she could get to the bookstore well before official opening time and get everything ready for the day, which meant she was normally gone before Danielle came downstairs for school. There were times, however, when she went in a little later, just so she could have breakfast with Danielle and see her off to school.

Normally Danielle was happy when her mother stayed to hang out with her before she went to school. But _why_ did she have to choose _today_ , of _all_ days, to go into work late? Lynne didn't know that Jasper was coming to pick her up. She believed Danielle was going to school with Bella, just as always. There was no way her mother _wouldn't_ see Jasper when he came to take pick her up, which would undoubtedly lead to a conversation that Danielle wasn't ready to have. As far as her mother knew, Jasper was just her friend from school who occasionally popped into the bookshop, and Danielle had been hoping to keep it that way for a little longer. It wasn't because Lynne was strict about dating, or anything – Danielle just hadn't wanted to bring anything up until she knew, with complete and total certainty, where she and Jasper stood with each other.

Maybe Lynne wasn't planning to stay long, Danielle thought hopefully to herself as she finally started toward the kitchen. Maybe she had just stayed to cook her breakfast and would soon be on her way. Maybe there was still a chance she would leave for work before Jasper arrived.

Danielle walked into the kitchen and found Lynne sitting at the table, her eyes trained on the newspaper she'd retrieved from the driveway. Her plate was empty already, and she seemed to be finishing the last remnants of the coffee in her mug. Knowing that she had already finished breakfast bolstered Danielle's hope that Lynne would be leaving for work soon.

"Morning, Mom," she greeted, trying not to sound _too_ chipper so that her mother wouldn't start to get suspicious of anything.

Lynne looked up from the paper to smile at Danielle. "Morning, sweetie," she greeted at once. But then Lynne did a double take, her eyes finally giving Danielle a good, long look. Her brows quickly shot upward. "Wow. You look even more beautiful than usual today," she complimented with a big smile. "What are you so dolled up for?"

Danielle shrugged nonchalantly. "No reason," she lied. "Just…felt like being fancy today."

Lynne made a sound of understanding. "Well, you look great. I just _love_ that shirt on you," she complimented again.

"Thanks," Danielle said with a smile.

Lynne said that there was a plate of food on the counter waiting for her, so Danielle went to grab it before easing into the seat across from her mother. She took a bite of bacon, her eyes turning to the clock on the microwave. _7:22._ She suddenly wished she knew if Jasper was the sort of guy who arrived when he said he would, or if he was one of those who tended to run a few minutes late, just so she could know exactly how much more time she had before he arrived.

Danielle pulled her eyes from the clock to look at her mother, who had gone back to perusing the newspaper. "Thanks for the breakfast," she said.

"You're welcome," Lynne said with a smile.

Danielle took another bite. "I'm surprised you're still here," she said casually. "I thought you'd be gone already."

"I'll be leaving soon, actually," Lynne said. "I just wanted to make you breakfast and catch up on some local news before heading out." Lynne stopped reading for a moment to give Danielle an excited smile. "I found my box of Spring decorations last night. I think I'm gonna go ahead and decorate the shop with it."

Danielle nodded in approval. "I'm sure it'll look really nice. You've always been good at stuff like that," she told her with a smile.

Lynne seemed flattered. "Thank you, sweetie."

Lynne resumed reading, while Danielle continued eating. They sat in silence while Lynne became immersed in an article, and though Danielle didn't outwardly show it, she felt more and more antsy with each minute that ticked by. She was incredibly excited to see Jasper, but she was also a little nervous as to how her mother would react if she was around to see him pick her up. And that was looking more and more like a possibility, since it was now seven twenty-seven and Lynne had not yet made any moves to leave.

Finally, Lynne folded up the newspaper and set it down. She stood from the table and went to the sink to wash her dishes. "I should probably get going. I want to get a jump start on those decorations," Lynne said over the sound of the faucet. "How do you feel about tacos for dinner tonight?"

"Tacos sound great," Danielle said with a nod.

"Excellent," Lynne said. She finished washing her dishes and set then in the strainer to dry, before turning off the water and wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. "I'm gonna go grab that box of decorations from the garage," she said, leaning down to kiss the top of Danielle's head as she walked past. "I'll be right back."

Danielle watched her go, then sighed to herself. As her mother disappear into the garage, she quickly finished her breakfast and went to set her plate in the sink, before glancing at the clock again. Just as she looked, the time changed. _7:30._

The doorbell suddenly rang, making her jump with surprise. Butterflies then swarmed her belly and a huge smile stretched across her face. It was Jasper. It just _had_ to be.

Danielle hurried out of the kitchen, stopping momentarily to check her appearance in the hallway mirror. She then went to the door, pausing once her hand was on the knob to suck in a deep, calming breath. Then, she pulled the door open.

Jasper stood on the doorstep with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He had chosen to wear a navy blue zip-up sweater that complimented his eyes very nicely and made him look incredibly handsome. Then again, he probably could have shown up wearing a garbage bag and she _still_ would have swooned like a woman in a tacky romance novel.

Danielle beamed at him, but Jasper did not smile back just yet. His eyes had gone a little wider than normal as he looked her up and down, his lips pressing together tightly. When his gaze met hers again, his eyes seemed a little darker and there was obvious admiration in his gaze. It was the exact look she had been hoping to put on his face.

"Good morning, Jasper," she said, her heart doing a little dance in her chest.

He cleared his throat, then finally seemed to get ahold of himself. "Good morning," Jasper said, though his voice seemed a bit rougher than normal. "You look _very_ lovely today," he then complimented with a lopsided smile.

Danielle flushed happily. "Thank you," she said. She then glanced over her shoulder to see if her mother had come back from the garage yet, which she hadn't. Danielle decided to try to sneak out before Lynne could see Jasper. "Let me just grab my jacket and my backpack, then we can go," she told him quickly.

He nodded, then stayed where he was while she collected her things, watching her move around through the open door. Danielle pulled on her jacket, then grabbed her backpack and quickly slid the straps onto her shoulders. Just as she started to join him outside, however, she heard Lynne walk back into the house.

"Dani?" she called, making Danielle freeze on the spot. "I heard the doorbell ring. Is that Bella?" Lynne appeared in the hallway a moment later, carrying a large box. She stopped the moment she caught sight of Jasper, her brows shooting up to her hairline. "You're not Bella," she said with surprise.

Jasper smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm not," he said. He glanced at Danielle, who just shrugged at him, before looking back to her mother. "Good morning, Ms. Clark. It's nice to see you again," he said politely.

Lynne gave Danielle a look as she stepped closer, one that probably didn't mean much to anyone who didn't know her, but which meant a number of things Danielle. "Same to you, Jasper. Though I admit I'm a bit surprised to see you on my doorstep," she said, giving Danielle another brief look. "Are you taking Dani to school?"

"I am," he confirmed. "I hope you don't mind."

"No, no, I don't," Lynne said quickly. "Though I'm not sure _why_ you needed to do so when she normally goes with Bella."

Danielle wracked her brain, trying to come up with a good excuse as to why Jasper would need to pick her up. Luckily, Jasper was quicker on his feet than she was. "Danielle and I need to speak with one of our teachers about a project we're working on, so we wanted to get to school a bit earlier to speak with him before class," Jasper lied smoothly, sounding very convincing. "I offered to take her to school so as not to inconvenience Bella."

Lynne seemed to buy the excuse. "Ah, I see," she said, nodding her head.

Jasper looked at Danielle again, then took a step toward her mother. "That looks heavy, Ms. Clark," he said, motioning to the box she still held. "I'd be happy to carry it to wherever you were taking it," he offered.

Lynne blinked in surprise again. "Why thank you. That's nice of you to offer." She passed the box to Jasper, who handled it with ease. "I was taking it to my car. The doors are unlocked if you'd like to put it in the backseat."

Jasper nodded, then, without a word, he turned to carry the box to her mother's car. Danielle watched him go, unable to help smiling fondly at how polite and gentlemanly he was being, then turned her gaze back to her mother. When she saw Lynne watching her with crossed arms and a quirked brow, her smile fell and she cringed.

"By the way...Jasper is taking me to school?" she offered lamely.

"You could have told me a little _sooner_ ," Lynne hissed. She poked her head outside to glance at Jasper. "I understand why you got all dressed up now," Lynne commented. After staring at Jasper for a few moments, she looked back to Danielle and smirked. "He sure is cute, isn't he?" she said, wiggling her brows. "They didn't look like that when _I_ was in high school."

" _Mom_ ," Danielle groaned, covering her face with her hands.

"What?" Lynne asked, clearly not seeing any issue with what she'd said.

Danielle dropped her hands from her face, then shook her head. Both she and her mother looked in the direction Jasper had gone again, and Danielle couldn't help but notice the fact that it seemed to be taking longer than it should have for him to put the box in Lynne's car – Danielle wondered if he was stalling on purpose, so that she and her mother had time to talk.

"Oh, and Mom?" Danielle said quickly to draw Lynne's attention to her. "Now would also probably be a good time to tell you that Jasper and I are going to the Spring Fling dance together on the twelfth."

"Since when?" Lynne asked with surprise.

"Since yesterday," Danielle answered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lynne demanded, looking mildly offended by the fact that Danielle hadn't said anything sooner.

Danielle shrugged. "I was going to. I just hadn't gotten around to it yet."

Lynne gave her a look. "First he's taking you to school, now you're going to the dance together? Is there something going on that you haven't told me about?" she asked suspiciously. "Is he your _boyfriend_?"

"No, he's not," Danielle quickly answered. "Or, at least, I don't _think_ he is," she added with a shrug. "We're just kind of…seeing where things go."

Lynne lifted a brow knowingly. "I thought you weren't interested in him like that?" she accused, referring to the first conversation they'd had about Jasper the day he had come to apologize to her in the bookstore.

"I wasn't at the time," Danielle said with a shrug. "But things have changed. I like him, Mom. I like him a _lot_ ," she admitted with a smile. "So just…be nice? Please?"

Lynne huffed. "I'm _always_ nice," she said pointedly.

Danielle glanced at Jasper again and saw that he was making his way back to them. She gave Lynne a look that very clearly said to keep her mouth shut, then smiled at Jasper as he rejoined them. She thought she spied a glint in his eyes when his gaze met hers, but he turned his attention to her mother before she could be sure what it meant.

"The box is safely in your car, Ms. Clark," he said with a nod.

"Thank you, Jasper, that was very kind of you. And thank you for taking Dani to school," she added with a smile. "I hope you didn't have to go too far out of your way to pick her up."

"Not at all, ma'am," Jasper assured her with a shake of his head.

Lynne started to say something else, but Danielle decided that the time to leave had come. She didn't want to give her mother any chance to say anything that might embarrass her. "We should get going," she said quickly, finally stepping out onto the porch so that she stood next to Jasper. "I'll see you tonight, okay, Mom?"

"Alright," Lynne said without putting up a fuss. "Have a good day at school."

Danielle nodded, then looked at Jasper and nodded toward his black, fancy looking car, which was parked at the curb, silently telling him that they should go. "Have a good day, Ms. Clark," he said to her mother, smiling politely again.

"You too, Jasper," Lynne said back.

With that, Danielle and Jasper stepped down from the porch and went to his car. Unsurprisingly, Lynne leaned against the door frame and watched them go. When they reached the car, Jasper stepped ahead of Danielle and opened the passenger side door for her. Danielle gave him a smile and eased into the passenger seat. Jasper shut the door behind her, waved to her mother one last time, then walked around the front of the car and took his place behind the steering wheel.

The moment he shut the door behind him, Danielle's stomach did a somersault and her heart began to pound within her chest. They had never been so completely and totally alone before. Their gazes held for a long moment, though neither one of them said anything yet. Danielle felt positively surrounded by that wonderful piney scent, which seemed to fill up the entire car. She sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly, her nerves crackling with awareness as Jasper stared at her intently. She could've _sworn_ his eyes had gotten darker in the last few moments.

Finally, Jasper pulled his eyes away from hers and faced forward, his hands reaching into his pocket to retrieve his keys before he slipped them into the ignition. Danielle finally felt like she could breathe again once he wasn't staring at her.

"Did you tell Bella I was picking you up this morning?" Jasper finally asked, glancing at the red truck as he pulled away from the curb and started down the street.

"Yeah, I did," Danielle confirmed.

"But you _didn't_ tell your mother," Jasper commented, lifting a brow at her.

Danielle smiled sheepishly. "I didn't think she'd be here when you came to get me," she admitted. "I didn't keep it from her because I was embarrassed or anything," she quickly clarified, just so he wouldn't get the wrong idea. "My mom just tends to get a little… _nosey_. She would have grilled me for details all night long if I had mentioned we were going to school together today."

Jasper smirked. He didn't seem put off by the fact that she'd kept him a secret from her mother, which was a relief. "Sounds a bit like _my_ mother," he said.

Danielle smiled, then let her eyes wander around the car. The seats were made of leather, the dash had a fancy digital screen for navigation and radio options, and everything was impeccably clean. The car practically screamed _EXPENSIVE_.

"Nice car," Danielle complimented.

"Thank you," Jasper said back, keeping his eyes on the road as he turned out of her neighborhood.

"You Cullen's sure like your fancy cars, huh?" she commented, thinking of all the flashy cars she had seen them drive to school.

"It's a weakness of ours, I'm afraid," Jasper said with a shrug. He then smirked at her, his eyes dancing with humor. "But don't worry, we're not _all_ flash. We still take the old station wagon when we go on family outings," he joked.

Danielle snickered. "How very suburban of you."

Silence fell between them as they slowed to a stop at a red light. Jasper kept his hands firmly on the steering wheel, but his eyes were on her again, slowly taking in every inch of her face. Danielle flushed under his intense scrutiny and began to drum her fingers against her leg, trying to act calm and casual on the outside, despite the fact that her stomach was still doing flips on the inside.

"You really _do_ look very lovely today, Danielle," Jasper said in a low voice, which made her fingers stop tapping and her eyes fly to his. He gave her another lopsided smile, his head tilting to the side a bit. "Then again, you _always_ look very lovely," he added.

Danielle smiled shyly and cleared her throat. "You're making me blush again," she said, reaching one hand up to push a stray curl away from her face.

Jasper's eyes followed the movement of her hand, then gazed intently into hers again. "Sorry," he said, though he didn't sound remotely apologetic.

The way he was looking at her was quickly turning her brain into mush, which made it very difficult to come up with a response. Luckily, she was saved from having to respond when the car behind them beeped their horn. Jasper blinked, glanced in the rearview mirror, then realized that the light had turned green. He pressed on the accelerator, sending the car back into motion.

Danielle drummed her fingers against her leg again, sneaking a few glances as Jasper as he drove. Anytime his gaze met hers, her heart jumped a little. She decided she needed something to distract herself, otherwise she was just going to sit there and drool over him for the rest of the car ride.

"Mind if I turn on some music?" she asked.

"Help yourself," Jasper said.

Danielle reached toward the screen in the dash and, after taking a moment to study it, she figured out how to turn it on. Almost immediately, the car filled with what sounded like old-timey country music. It wasn't a surprise, seeing as she already knew that Jasper was a fan of older country music – according to what he had once told her, it was pretty much the only kind of music he listened to. Danielle listened to the sounds of banjos and what she was almost _certain_ was someone using a jug as an instrument, then lifted a brow at Jasper.

"Who is this band?" she asked, pretty sure she had never heard their music before.

"An old music group from back in the day," Jasper answered. "Do you like it?"

Danielle listened a little longer. "They're not bad," she admitted. "For a _country_ band, anyway," she added teasingly.

Jasper smirked and shook his head. Unlike Jasper, Danielle wasn't very fond of the genre. "I still don't understand how a girl from Texas doesn't like country music," he mused aloud.

Danielle shrugged. "There's some I can listen to. Johnny Cash is great, and I love me some Dolly Parton," she said. "Today's country is just not appealing to me. The songs are either about something super depressing or something absolutely ridiculous…like people thinking tractors are _sexy_ ," she said with a scoff. "It's just silly."

Jasper smirked. "I supposed you've got a point there. I'm not big on today's country either. Or _any_ of today's music for that matter."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think they'll be playing _this_ sort of music at the Spring Fling," she said, motioning toward the radio.

"I should think not," Jasper conceded. "The music won't matter much to me, though," he added, before giving her a small smile. "I'm far more interested in the _company_."

Danielle's heart skipped a beat. "Well, hopefully the company won't disappoint," she told him.

Jasper immediately shook his head. "I'm certain that's not even a possibility," he insisted.

Danielle just smiled broadly, feeling so light and happy that she felt like she was floating on a cloud.

It wasn't much longer before they were pulling in to the Forks High parking lot. Danielle unbuckled her seatbelt and started to get out of the car once Jasper had parked, but he stopped her with a gentle hand on her elbow. Danielle froze, watching as Jasper exited the car and then hurried around to her side of the car. She grinned as he opened the door and ushered her out with a sweep of his hand.

"Always the southern gentleman," Danielle said as she stepped out of the car.

Jasper smirked as he shut the door again. "What can I say? You bring it out of me."

Jasper left Danielle's side for a moment to collect his schoolbag from the backseat. Danielle's eyes followed him for a moment, looking him over with admiration, until she was hit with the distinct feeling of being watched. She pulled her gaze from Jasper to look around…then immediately stiffened.

There were two girls staring at her and Jasper, the both of them looking shocked as they whispered to one another. They were not the only ones either. _Everyone_ within a thirty foot radius was staring, clearly awestruck by the fact that they had just arrived together. Danielle flushed and shifted on her feet, all of the staring and attention suddenly making her feel like she had been transported back to her first day of school.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked as he reappeared by her side, his schoolbag now hanging from his shoulder.

"Everyone's staring at us," she told him.

Jasper took a moment to glance around, then made a thoughtful noise and nodded his head. "So they are," he mused aloud. He didn't seem to really care that people were staring, though. He merely smirked and then offered his elbow. "Would you care for an escort to class, ma'am?" he asked in a slightly more exaggerated southern drawl.

Danielle forgot about everyone else in an instant and smiled. "I sure would," she said.

She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, feeling an electric shock shoot up her arm the moment she touched him. Jasper looked down at her for a long moment, his eyes intent as they gazed into hers. Finally, they began making their way up to the school, focusing only on each other and ignoring the rest of their classmates that stared and gaped in their wake.

* * *

Her first three classes of the day went by quickly and without anything significant happening. She snuck looks and shared smiles with Jasper in her first two periods, and walked with him between classes, just as she always did. Rosalie gave her dirty looks all through Calculus, which she ignored, and Emmett chatted her ear off as much as he could during third period, which earned them a scolding and another threat of being separated by the teacher. In general, it was a fairly normal day, only it was about a thousand times more enjoyable simply because of how great of a mood Jasper had put her in.

Things finally took a turn for the interesting when Danielle got to her fourth period Spanish class and saw Bella for the first time that day.

"Hey," Danielle greeted as she sat down next to her. The last time they had seen each other Bella had been in a foul mood, but she seemed better now.

"Hey," Bella said back, smiling. "How has _your_ day been?" she asked knowingly. Her tone made it clear that she was asking how her morning ride with Jasper had gone.

Danielle couldn't have wiped the smile from her face if she tried. "It's been great," she said with a nod. "How about yours? Anything to report?"

Bella suddenly shifted in her seat, her expression a combination of excited, but also uncertain. "Actually, yeah," she said, leaning closer. "Edward and I talked again this morning," she revealed. "He wants to drive me to Seattle next week.

Danielle looked at her with shock. "Seriously?" Bella nodded. "What did you say?"

"I told him yes," Bella said.

Danielle's brows shot upward. "What happened to not wanting anything to do with him?"

Bella just shrugged sheepishly. "Things changed," she said. "I mean, he's still confusing and annoying and I have _no_ idea what's going on in his head, but…I don't know. After some of the things he said this morning, I feel like there might be something there. And I _really_ want to figure out what that something is," Bella told her.

Danielle nodded in understanding, knowing exactly how Bella felt because it was how _she_ had felt about Jasper when they first started becoming friends. She started to ask just what exactly Edward had said, but before she had the chance, the bell rang signaling that it was time for class to start and for their conversation about Edward Cullen to stop.

All during class the day before, her eagerness to see Jasper in lunch had resulted in Danielle fidgeting in her seat and watching the clock like a hawk. Today, however, it was Bella's turn to shift around with impatience and eyeball the clock like it had all the answers to life's most pressing questions. She wiggled her foot and tapped her pencil against the top of her desk, her eyes turning to the clock every two seconds as she blatantly ignored their teacher. After a while it began to make Danielle feel a little anxious, so much so that she finally caught her friends eye and mouthed the word, _Relax._ Bella stopped fidgeting at once, flashing a small smile of apology.

When the bell rang and it was time for lunch, Bella was the one to jump out of her seat and hurry for the door. Danielle followed her, but because she was taller and had longer legs, it wasn't any trouble for her to keep up with Bella's quick pace as they started off toward the cafeteria.

"Is this what _I've_ been like these past few days?" Danielle asked with amusement.

Bella scoffed at her. "Past few _days_?" she echoed incredulously. "Dani, this is how you've been since the day you and Jasper became friends," she then corrected.

Danielle started to argue that that wasn't true and that Bella was exaggerating, but then she stopped herself, because as she thought back over the past handful of weeks, she realized that her friend _was_ right. She had always been eager to see Jasper, even back when they'd only first started becoming friends, even before she had realized her own feelings for him.

"Hey, guys!" a new voice interjected, bringing Danielle out of her own thoughts and back to the present. Angela and Jessica had just appeared, and both had looks of interest on their faces as they began walking with her and Bella.

"Dani, is it true?" Angela asked eagerly.

Danielle's brows furrowed. "Is _what_ true?" she asked uncertainly.

"Did Jasper Hale bring you to school today?" Angela persisted.

Danielle shared a quick look with Bella, then nodded. "Yes, he did," she confirmed, which made Angela and Jessica grin at each other. "How did you guys know?" Danielle asked curiously.

"Are you kidding? This school _thrives_ on gossip!" Jessica shot back with a snort, and she would certainly know that, since _she_ was usually the one to spread gossip in the first place. "Rumors about you and Jasper are spreading like wildfire."

Danielle pursed her lips unsurely, not surprised to hear that rumors were going around but still not super happy about it. "Do I even want to know what people are saying?" she asked with trepidation.

"It's pretty harmless," Angela said reassuringly. "Everyone just pretty much seems to think that you guys are boyfriend and girlfriend now."

" _Are_ you guys boyfriend and girlfriend now?" Jessica immediately asked, the question practically exploding out of her in her eagerness to know.

Danielle, who wondered how many more times she was going to get asked this question, shook her head. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but no, we're not," she answered truthfully.

Angela and Jessica looked disappointed. "Oh. You're just friends then?" Angela asked.

Danielle thought about it, then shrugged. "Well… _no._ I suppose we're _more_ than just that."

Both of her friends looked confused now. "So…then what's going on?" Jessica asked, clearly not understanding.

Danielle hesitated, not entirely sure how much she wanted to reveal. If it had just been her and Angela talking about this, she would have told her the truth. But Jessica was there, and Danielle had a feeling that anything she said to her would likely wind up becoming public knowledge to the school. And since she _didn't_ want a bunch of strangers knowing her and Jasper's business, she thought maybe it would be better if she didn't say anything at all.

Danielle started to wrack her brain, trying to come up with an excuse to get out of having to tell them without offending anyone. Luckily, in the next moment, Bella came to the rescue. She nudged Danielle in the side, then pointed toward something up ahead of them. Danielle followed her gaze toward the cafeteria, which was now in sight, then grinned when she realized that Jasper was waiting for her by the entrance. The other girls looked to see what had caught her attention, then raised their brows at her.

"Why don't you guys go on without me?" Danielle suggested.

Though Jessica looked like she wanted to stay and see what happened, she finally gave in after Angela gave her a pointed look. Her three friends continued on after that, giving Jasper not so discreet looks as they went past him, and disappeared into the cafeteria. Danielle smiled widely and made her way over to Jasper, who gave her a lopsided smile as she approached.

"Hey, you," Danielle said as she stopped in front of him.

"Hello yourself," he greeted in return. He glanced at the door that her friends had just walked through, then lifted an amused brow at her. "Lunchtime gossip?" he asked.

Danielle gaped a bit. "How did you know?" she asked with surprise. "There's no _way_ you could have heard us talking from here!"

Jasper just shrugged casually. "I could tell by the looks on your faces," he said matter-of-factly.

Danielle narrowed her eyes at him, but then shrugged in acceptance. Jasper _was_ good at reading people, so she supposed it made sense. _"They_ were gossiping. _I_ was listening," she made sure to point out. "Apparently you and I are the talk of the town today."

Jasper didn't look too surprised to hear it. "It's high school. People will always talk," he told her.

"I know. I'd just rather _not_ have the entire school all up in our business," she said, shooting a slightly sour look when a group went walking past them and she saw that each of them was blatantly staring at her and Jasper.

"Well, as annoying as it is, there _is_ a silver lining here," Jasper said, drawing her attention back to him.

"And what's that?"

"Maybe now I won't have to keep fighting off the competition," he told her with a smirk.

Danielle gave him a look. "Jasper, you never had any competition to begin with," she told him point blank.

The smile he gave her in return made her knees feel a little unstable. "Good to know," he said, sounding very pleased indeed.

Danielle sucked in a breath to get herself back in order, then decided to steer the conversation elsewhere. "Bella had some interesting news for me concerning Edward," she revealed, raising her eyebrows at him. "Apparently they're talking again and they're even planning to go to Seattle together the night of the dance," she said.

Jasper's brows rose. "Is that so?" he asked. "I knew he was going to talk to Bella today, but I didn't know about Seattle. That's…interesting," he mused aloud.

Danielle smiled at him and took a step closer, her eyebrows inching upward knowingly. "So you _did_ talk to him about Bella?" she asked. Even though he had told her he would the day before, she hadn't known if he had meant it or if he'd just been telling her that so she would drop the subject.

Jasper shrugged a shoulder. "You asked me to talk to him, so I talked to him," he answered simply. "I won't tell you what was said because that goes against brotherly protocols, but I _will_ say that things should be… _different_ between Bella and Edward now."

Danielle was glad to hear it, and hoped that this change would be for the _better_ , not the worse. "Thank you for doing that, Jasper. I think I speak for Bella _and_ myself when I say that it's greatly appreciated," she said sincerely. Jasper just smiled humbly and inclined his head. "Now, quick question," she continued, her lips pulling into a mischievous smirk now. Jasper's expression seemed to turn a bit wary, as if he wasn't sure what she was up to. "What _else_ will you do just because I ask you to?"

Jasper chuckled and shook his head. "I supposed that depends _,_ " he said. He narrowed his eyes at her then, his lips pulling into that lopsided smile that she loved to see. "But I will say that there's something about you that makes it almost _impossible_ to refuse you."

"That's _very_ good to know," Danielle said with a nod, already stowing that little piece of information away for future use.

Jasper cocked an eyebrow at her. "I feel as though I just made a mistake by telling you that," he admitted.

Danielle shrugged innocently. "Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. Only time will tell, I guess," she answered aloofly. When Jasper just gave her a look, she laughed and then motioned toward the cafeteria. "Let's go get some food. I'm _starving_."

They finally walked into the cafeteria and headed for the lunch line to buy food. She could faintly hear whispering and noticed some people staring, but she couldn't find it in herself to care anymore. She focused all of her attention on Jasper as they grabbed their lunches and made small talk with one another.

Once they both had trays full of food, they paid the lunch lady and started to head toward the table they usually sat at when they ate together. Danielle stopped with surprise, however, when she realized that the table was occupied. Her surprise increased even more when she realized that the people occupying said table were none other than Edward and Bella.

"Well, would you look at that," Jasper commented, having just noticed the same thing she had. He looked down at her and raised his brows. "Did I not say things would be different?"

Danielle nodded, but that didn't stop her from frowning with annoyance. As glad as she was to see that Bella and Edward finally seemed to be trying to talk things out and find some sort of common ground with each other, she was _not_ happy about the fact that they had taken her and Jasper's table. In the back of her mind she knew it was silly of her to be so annoyed, but this was the last day she would spend with Jasper before he went hiking and she wanted to eat with him in privacy. Her eyes swept the cafeteria, but every other table was taken. She sighed heavily, then gave Jasper a disgruntled look.

"Shouldn't you be happy that they're talking?" Jasper asked pointedly.

"I am," Danielle said. "But did they have to take _our_ table?" she then asked grumpily.

Jasper smirked. "They can borrow it for a day. We'll just find another place to sit," he said with a reassuring nod.

They both looked around again, trying to decide which option was best. Eating outside was out of the question, because it had started raining literally the _second_ after she and Jasper had stepped inside the school that morning, and it hadn't let up even the slightest bit since. She saw Jasper eyeing the table that his siblings were sitting at, but then saw his face fill with doubt as he looked at his twin, Rosalie. Danielle already knew she wouldn't dare suggest sitting with them – Emmett and Alice would be fine to hang out with, but Rosalie? She'd probably try to stab Danielle with a plastic spork for even _thinking_ about it.

She finally looked at the table the lunch group was at. Most of the table kept looking at Edward and Bella, and though the majority of them were just looking on with curiosity, Mike looked pretty upset about it. Danielle sighed, then raised her brows at Jasper. "You feeling brave enough to eat lunch with my friends?" she asked, fully expecting him to say no.

Jasper looked at the group she was referring to, took a second to think about it, then slowly nodded. "Alright," he said, though he didn't sound over the moon about the idea.

"We don't have to," she said quickly. "I can eat with them and you can eat with your brother and sisters if you want," she added with a shrug, not wanting to force him into doing anything he didn't want to.

"No," Jasper said at once. "We'll eat with your friends. It'll be…fine."

Danielle nodded. "Okay."

They started making their way over to the lunch group, who were all still shooting glances at Bella and Edward and whispering to one another. Finally, Eric looked up, and when he saw Danielle and Jasper walking toward them, his eyes went wide with surprise. He smacked the nearest person to get their attention, and that person just so happened to be Tyler. Tyler looked at Eric with a confused frown, then also looked shocked when Eric pointed them out and he saw that they were approaching.

"Hey, guys," Danielle said to catch the attention of the rest of the table. Everyone looked at her with friendly smiles, then went wide eyed when they saw Jasper standing next to her. "Mind if we join you?" she asked, motioning toward Jasper. "Our table kinda got hijacked by Bella and Edward."

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Finally, Angela recovered. "Er, yeah! Of course!" she said, before pushing against Eric's shoulder. "Scoot over and make some room."

There was a loud scraping sound of chairs moving across tile as everyone shifted around to make room for her and Jasper. Danielle started to sit in a chair that would put her sitting between Jasper and Angela, but when she noticed that that would put him sitting between her and _Jessica_ , she discreetly motioned for him to take her original seat, so that he would be sitting next to Angela instead. She figured that if he had to be next to someone he didn't know, the very sweet and friendly and _non_ -gossipy Angela would be the safest bet.

They settled in, and the fact that Jasper looked stiff and awkward did not escape her notice. "Jasper, this is Angela, Eric, Tyler, Mike, and Jessica," she introduced, pointing to each person as she said their name. He gave them a pinched smile and inclined his head. "Guys, this is Jasper."

"Hi, Jasper," Angela said with a friendly smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"You as well," Jasper said politely in return.

Danielle saw him glance toward the table his siblings sat at. She followed his gaze and saw that all three were looking at Jasper like lobsters had just started crawling out of his ears. They had gotten used to the idea of Jasper sitting with _her_ at lunch, but they obviously had not expected to ever see him sit with her friends. The same could be said for the rest of the students at lunch, too. Their peers seemed unsure what was more interesting to gossip about – the fact that Bella and Edward were sitting together, or the fact that Jasper had agreed to sit at a table full of people he'd never spoken to before.

"So," Jessica said after a few moments to break the momentary silence that had fallen over the table. Danielle cringed, hoping and praying she wouldn't say something off-putting. "What's going on with Edward and Bella?" she asked, her eyes jumping back and forth between Danielle and Jasper.

Danielle spoke up so that Jasper wouldn't have to answer. "I'm not too sure," she answered honestly. "I know they have a class together, though," she said, before looking at Mike. He kept glaring in Edward's direction. "Aren't you in class with them too, Mike?" she asked.

Mike nodded. "Yeah. They're lab partners in our biology class, but I hardly ever see them talking to each other. I didn't think they were even _friends_ ," he said with a frown.

"I didn't know you paid such close attention," Jessica commented, her tone just the tiniest bit frosty.

Danielle and Jasper shared a look with each other, then looked at Mike again when he quickly spoke up. "I don't," he said defensively. Danielle could tell he was lying, and she was certain everyone else at the table could tell, too.

"How about we _not_ talk about Edward and Bella?" Angela suggested, looking pointedly at Jessica and Mike. Jessica gave Mike a long look, then sighed and took a bite of food. "So, Jasper," Angela said, which made Jasper shift his attention to her. "Did Dani happen to tell you about our beach trip this weekend?"

"She did," Jasper confirmed.

"Will you be joining us?" she asked curiously.

The rest of the group seemed interested to know, too, though Danielle thought the guys didn't look particularly thrilled with the thought of Jasper tagging along. "Unfortunately, no," he answered, which made the guys relax. "I'm going hiking with my brothers. I'll be gone all weekend," he informed her.

"Oh," Angela said, nodding in understanding. "Well, it's too bad you couldn't come, but hiking with your brothers sounds like a lot of fun too," she added with a smile.

"It usually is," Jasper said with a nod.

"Where do you like to go hiking?" Angela asked with interest.

Jasper began telling Angela about different places he and his family had gone to on recent hiking trips. Angela listened with rapt attention, nodding her head and asking questions at the appropriate moments. Danielle smiled as she watched them talk, recognizing the fact that Angela seemed to be going out of her way to make Jasper feel welcome, just as she had done with Danielle the very first time _she_ had sat with them at lunch time. It appeared to be working, too. Jasper still didn't look nearly as relaxed as he did whenever they were alone together, but he didn't seem _as_ tense as he had when they'd first sat down, either.

"So, Dani," Jessica eventually said to catch her attention. "Have you made any decisions about whether or not you're going to the dance yet?"

Danielle glanced at Jasper, who had heard the question and was looking at her. "Actually, yes," she said. She glanced at Jasper again, silently asking if it was alright if she announced that they were going together. After Jasper nodded, she turned back to Jessica with a smile. "Jasper and I are going together."

Jessica and Angela both gasped and then grinned with excitement. "Oh my gosh, you guys _have_ to come with us then!" Jessica gushed.

"Us?" Danielle asked.

"Mike is _my_ date," Jessica said, pointing to Mike, who was still watching Edward and Bella like a hawk. "And Eric is _Angela's_ date," she said next, which made Danielle grin at Angela. The girl blushed a bit, but still smiled happily. "We're all going together. You guys should _totally_ join us!"

Danielle instantly knew she wasn't sold on the idea of her and Jasper being part of a group for the Spring Fling, but she didn't outright say no, either. She instead looked at Jasper to try to see what his reaction to the invitation was, but all he did was shrug very unhelpfully in response. _Typical guy,_ she thought to herself, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at him.

"I don't know, Jessica," she finally said. "We haven't really talked about what we want to do yet. How about you let us think about it?" she asked.

Jessica, who had obviously expected her to say yes, looked a bit taken aback at first. But then she smiled and quickly nodded. "Yeah, yeah, sure. You guys talk about it and then get back to us! No biggie!"

Danielle just nodded, gave Jasper a look, then ate some more of her food.

The rest of lunch wasn't quite as awkward as she had thought it would be, which was a relief. Mike eventually stopped watching Edward and Bella and started talking to the guys about the beach trip, while Jessica proceeded to yap Danielle's ear off about the dance and all of the plans they had for it already, including a trip to Port Angeles to go dress shipping, which Danielle was promptly invited to. Jasper didn't say much, seemingly more content to listen to the conversation around him rather than actually contribute, but Danielle hadn't really expected that he would. He spoke if anyone asked him a direct question, but other than that, he stayed quiet.

When the bell rang, they quickly said goodbye to the lunch group and went to throw their trash away. Danielle hesitated for a moment, wondering if there was any way that she could catch Bella before class, but when she saw that Bella was still talking to Edward, she thought it better to leave them be. She'd get all the details later in gym.

Danielle and Jasper left the cafeteria and headed for her locker. As they walked she flashed him a look of apology. She felt bad, because she felt like she had just put him through a mild form of torture by making him sit with her friends. "I'm sorry," she said. "Sitting with them was a bad idea. I shouldn't have made you do that."

Jasper gave her a look. "You didn't make me do anything," he reminded her. "And it wasn't that bad," he added. "Jessica talks a lot – " Danielle snickered at that. " – but Angela was friendly and the rest were fine."

"I'm convinced that Angela is an angel sent from heaven," she stated fondly. "As for _Jessica_ , however…she's nice, but she can be a little much sometimes," Danielle admitted with a heave.

"I gathered that much," he said with a smirk.

They reached her locker and Danielle quickly put in the combination to open it up. Jasper waited for the person next to her to move out of the way, then leaned against their locker once they were gone.

"So then what would you like to do about the dance?" Jasper asked, looking at her curiously. "Do you want to join their group?"

Danielle frowned unsurely. "Do you?"

"They're your friends," Jasper said with a shrug. "If you want to go with them, then we'll go with them."

Danielle gave him a look. "It's not just about what _I_ want, Jasper. It's about what we _both_ want," she said firmly. "You tell me what _you_ want to do," she insisted.

Jasper hesitated. "The truth?" Danielle nodded encouragingly. "I don't want to be with anyone else that night but _you,_ " he admitted.

Danielle smiled widely. "Good…because I don't wanna be with anyone else either. I want it to just be me and you."

Jasper sighed with relief. "Good."

Danielle smiled, then grabbed her book for physics and shut her locker. "Well, now that _that's_ settled _,_ you should get going," she said.

Jasper frowned with confusion. "You don't want me to walk you to Physics?"

"Oh, I do," she said, which confused him even further. "But I _know_ I made you late to class yesterday, and I won't have you being late again today. That's that and I don't wanna hear any arguments," she said matter-of-factly. "So you get going, mister," she concluded sternly.

Jasper smirked and pushed off of the locker he'd been leaning against. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a little bit bossy?" he asked.

"Yep," she said without hesitation, which made him smirk. She smiled at him, then took a step in the direction of her class. "I'll see you after school, okay?"

"I'll be waiting for you here," Jasper confirmed.

Danielle nodded, then turned to head for her Physics class. She was not surprised when she glanced back and was Jasper watching her go. She just gave him another smile, then continued on to class.

* * *

After Physics, Danielle hurried to the girl's locker room so that she would have plenty of time to talk to Bella before class started. She wanted to know how her lunch with Edward had gone and whether or not she had anymore clarification as to where they stood. But when she walked into the locker room, Bella wasn't there, and though she lingered for several minutes after changing, her friend _still_ didn't show. Finally the coach told them all to get into the gymnasium, and as the bell rang to signal the start of class, it became clear to Danielle that Bella wasn't coming. Danielle was confused, because she didn't understand why Bella had suddenly disappeared, but she was also _concerned._ She hoped that her friend was alright and that nothing had happened to her.

After Gym, Danielle changed back into her regular clothes and went to her locker. She found Jasper waiting for her there, as promised, and though she was still worried about Bella, just seeing Jasper made her feel better.

"Hey," she said, offering a smile as she reached him.

Jasper frowned at once. "Is everything okay?" he asked, instantly picking up on the fact that something was off.

Danielle sighed and shrugged as she leaned a shoulder against the lockers. "Bella wasn't in gym. She _never_ skips, though. It's got me a little worried that maybe something happened to her."

"Something _did_ happen, actually," Jasper said, which made her frown at once. "Bella got sick in her Biology class. They were doing blood testing and she got a little faint. Edward ended up driving her home so that she could spend the rest of the day resting."

Danielle didn't know what surprised her more, that Edward had driven Bella home or that Jasper knew exactly what had happened to her friend, despite not having any classes with her. "Edward drove Bella home?" she repeated with interest. Jasper nodded in confirmation. "Wow." She then cocked her head curiously. "How did _you_ know what happened to Bella?" she asked curiously.

"Edward told me," he said. "He came back to pick up Emmett, Rosalie, and Alice. Alice is going to drive Bella's truck back to her house, and since I'll already be there dropping _you_ off, I'm going to drive Alice back home after she returns the truck," he then explained.

"Oh, okay," Danielle said.

She _could_ have pointed out that all of this would have been _much_ easier if she just drove the truck back to Bella's _herself_ , instead of making Alice go out of her way to do it. But then she remembered that if she drove Bella's truck, then she _wouldn't_ be able to ride with Jasper. And considering the fact that she wouldn't be seeing him tomorrow – or the rest of the weekend, for that matter – she was not a fan of any plan that meant spending less time with him. If the Cullen's wanted to go about things the hard way, then fine. She'd happily play along if it meant being with Jasper just a little bit longer.

After she opened her locker and filled her backpack with the things she needed to take back home with her, she and Jasper headed out of the school. They paused once they were outside though, taking a moment to stand under the protective roofing of the school and stare out at the parking lot. It hadn't stopped raining yet. In fact, it seemed like it was raining even harder. Kids were running to their cars, laughing and shrieking as they tried – and failed – to avoid getting drenched.

Danielle looked up at Jasper, who cocked a brow at her. "Shall we make a run for it?"

Danielle nodded, then, together, they dashed out toward the parking lot.

Within seconds they were both drenched from head to toe, but Danielle didn't mind. She laughed as they ran through the thick sheets of rain, smiling at Jasper with delight as they dodged in between students and cars. Her ballet flats were certainly not ideal footwear for weather like this – they had hardly any traction against the slick pavement and kept threatening to slip off her feet, which made it hard to keep up with him. Jasper seemed to notice she was struggling and slowed down a bit, his hand reaching for hers. Danielle happily slipped her hand into his, feeling a spark shoot up her arm the moment she touched him. They ran the rest of the way to the car hand in hand.

Jasper helped her into the car once they reached it, then slammed the door shut and hurried around to his own side. Danielle pushed her wet hair away from her face, breathing hard from their sprint across the parking lot, every inch of her clothing completely drenched from the rain. As Jasper sat down in the driver's sat and closed his door, she looked over at him, then felt her heart jump in her chest.

Jasper was gorgeous. She had thought so from day one. But right now, as he sat there smiling at her, with his drenched clothes and his hair sticking to his forehead and his skin glistening from the rain…there were no words in the world that did him justice.

Danielle cleared her throat and looked away, wondering when it had gotten so hot in Jasper's car. When she looked back at Jasper, his smile had faded and he was giving her a look that made a shiver that had _nothing_ to do with the cold rain travel down her spine.

"Our clothes are soaked," she said, feeling the sudden and urgent need to break the silence. "Your seats are gonna get ruined."

"I don't care," he said. There was no ignoring the huskiness of his voice, and it made Danielle shiver again. "Cold?" he asked.

She should've said yes, just so he wouldn't know how much he was effecting her, but her mouth had other plans. "No," she told him honestly, gulping a bit as she stared into his eyes.

Jasper's eyes went a bit darker and she saw his chest heave as he sucked in a deep breath. Finally, after a long moment, he cleared his throat and tore his eyes from hers, his hands smoothly retrieving his keys and sticking them into the ignition. Danielle pressed her lips together tightly and buckled her seatbelt, her hands shaking a bit. She quickly folded them together in her lap so Jasper wouldn't see, then turned her eyes to the window as he put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking space.

Unlike that morning, when they had spent the drive chatting and listening to music, they drove along in complete silence. There was something different in the air now, something that made it hard for Danielle to relax and even harder for her to think of anything to say. She felt acutely aware of every little thing he did, from moving his hand to turn on his blinker to smoothly turning the steering wheel to even just _breathing._ All of her senses were tuned into him, and the longer she sat there, looking at his handsome face and feeling engulfed by the intoxicating scent of pine and rainwater, the harder it was to keep her head on straight. He was making her feel things that she never had felt before, things that made her want to touch him and kiss him and be as close to him as she possibly could.

Jasper's grip on the steering wheel suddenly tightened and he stepped a little harder on the gas, making the car lurch forward even faster. It was enough of a surprise to pull Danielle back from the path her thoughts had just travelled down. She shook her head and sucked in a few steadying breaths, keeping her eyes on the window now as the world flew by in a blur of grey and green.

They reached her house faster than she anticipated, and she couldn't decide whether she should be sad or relieved because of that. She didn't want to say goodbye to him, but the atmosphere in the car was proving to be too much for her nerves to handle. She needed to get some fresh air again, needed to clear her mind and get herself back in order.

Jasper pulled into the driveway, then shut off the ignition. He turned his head to look at her for the first time since they'd left the school. His eyes were intense, burning. She couldn't breathe, couldn't look away.

"I'll get your door," he said, his tone gravelly.

The words barely registered, but she still nodded. "O-Okay."

Jasper stared at her for a second longer, then got out of the car and walked around the front so that he could open her door. It was actually a relief to step out in the rain again – the cold raindrops felt good against her heated skin, and once she was out in the open air, she felt like she could breathe again. Jasper shut the door once she was out, then motioned for her to lead the way. She led him to her front porch, not bothering to hurry since they were both already soaked from the rain, very much aware of the fact that Jasper was right behind her. Once they were on the porch and finally shielded from the rain, she turned back around to face him.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "You know, for picking me up and taking me home."

Jasper didn't blink as he stared at her. "It was my pleasure," he told her steadily.

Danielle shifted on her feet, then cleared her throat. "When are you and your brothers leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning," he answered. "We should be back Sunday night."

Danielle nodded her understanding. "You'll be safe, right?" she asked. "You're not gonna do anything crazy like…dangle off cliffs or wrestle bears or anything like that?"

Jasper finally smiled, though his eyes had not lost an ounce of their intensity. "Nothing crazy. Just a weekend of hiking and camping and good ol' fashioned bonding time."

"Good," Danielle said with a sigh.

"You'll be safe too, won't you?" Jasper asked, his brows raising a tick. "You won't be doing anything too extreme on your little beach outing?"

Danielle shook her head. "I probably won't even get in the water," she said reassuringly. "I'll just hang out on the beach and eat some food. I might even do a bit of hiking of my own."

"Good," Jasper said with satisfaction.

Danielle hesitated for a moment, then gave him a small smile. "I'll miss you," she told him truthfully.

Jasper exhaled slowly through his nose. "I'll miss you, too," he said quietly.

Jasper looked at her for a moment, then took a step closer to her, so that there was less than a foot of space between them. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached a hand up to her face. Her breath caught in her throat as his fingers found a wet curl that had worked it's way free of her hairdo and tucked it behind her ear. His fingertips then trailed down her cheek and travelled the length of her neck, so feather light that she barely even felt it. Her eyes fluttered for a moment and she licked her lips unconsciously. The movement made Jasper's eyes drop to her mouth, his gaze almost hungry now.

"Jasper?" she whispered, feeling amazed that she was even capable of still forming words.

"Yes?" he asked. She was still very aware of the fact that his fingers were still touching her neck.

"Are you going to kiss me?" Danielle asked him.

His eyes darkened considerably. "I probably shouldn't." he said.

Danielle blinked at him in confusion. "Why not?" she asked breathlessly, moving a fraction closer to him. He looked like he couldn't decide if he should bolt, or if he should grab her and kiss her senseless. She was hoping for the latter of the two options.

Jasper gulped. "Because if I do, I might not be able to control myself," he admitted.

Heat shot through her at those words. "That's a bad thing?" she asked dumbly.

" _Very_ bad," Jasper said.

But he still hadn't moved away from her, and the longer he stood there staring at her like that, the more her lips tingled with the desire to kiss his. "What if I don't care?" she asked.

"You _should_ care," Jasper insisted.

"Well, I don't," Danielle insisted. Then, in a moment of bravery, she said, "Kiss me, Jasper. I _want_ you to kiss me."

Jasper growled in response, his chest heaving again. He stepped even closer and planted his hands on either side of her neck, his eyes smoldering as he stared into hers.

Danielle was suddenly hit with a wave of desire so strong and so powerful that her knees buckled. The only reason she stayed upright was because Jasper dropped one hand from her neck and wrapped an arm around her waist so that he could hold her up. She was blown away, completely confused by the rampant desire that had just hit her, so much so that she hardly knew which way was up and which way was down. All she could focus on, the only thing that made any sense, was Jasper. She was pressed against his chest now, and he was leaning closer, his eyes dark, his grip on her tight, looking for all the world like he absolutely was going to kiss her. Danielle closed her eyes and tilted her head back, her heart hammering in her chest as she waited for the moment when his lips would meet hers.

And then, quite out of nowhere, he let her go. Danielle stumbled forward and opened her eyes again, only to see that Jasper had taken a few big steps backward and was now standing on the edge of the porch, his face set in a mask of pure frustration. He gulped and raked a hand through his wet hair, shaking his head as he looked at her. He almost looked like he was in physical pain.

"Jasper, what – ?"

"I can't," he interrupted, his voice still husky. "I just… _can't,_ Danielle." Hurt rushed through her at his words and it must have shown on her face, because he quickly shook his head. "It's not you. You've done nothing wrong," he insisted firmly, his eyes pleading with her to understand. "It's just…too soon. It's too _dangerous_."

"Dangerous?" Danielle echoed unsurely. "What do you mean?"

Jasper didn't answer though. "I just…need more time."

Danielle still couldn't grasp onto one coherent thought. All she could think about was how Jasper wasn't making any sense, how her lips were dying to kiss his, and how her body was still on fire and desperate to feel his touch again. What about kissing her was so dangerous? Why was he so freaked out? What was going _on_?

She might have asked him, but at that exact moment, a familiar red truck came driving into view. Danielle watched as it came to a halt in front of Bella's house, then watched as Alice Cullen jumped out of the cab, her eyes turned in their direction. She looked mildly concerned, but did not take any steps to come near them. Jasper glanced back at her, nodded once, then turned back to Danielle. He looked as though he didn't want to go, but he took another step backward regardless.

"I need to go now, or I'll never leave," Jasper said.

"But, Jasper – " Danielle started to say, taking a step in his direction.

He held up a hand to stop her, which made her freeze. "I really need to go," he insisted. "I'll see you when I get back, alright?"

Danielle, who realized that there was nothing she could do or say to make him stay, finally nodded. "Okay."

Jasper looked at her for a long moment, then finally turned to leave. Danielle stepped up to the edge of the porch as he walked away, watching as he cast one last look in her direction before getting back in his car. He then started the engine and pulled out of the driveway, pausing for a moment once he had pulled up next to his sister. Alice gave her a look over the top of the car, then finally climbed inside. Jasper drove off after that, leaving Danielle to stand there and watch the retreating tail lights of his car until they disappeared, feeling more confused than she had ever felt in her entire life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and for taking the time to read this story! I hope y'all had a great and safe holiday season, and let's all hope 2021 doesn't suck as hard as 2020 did! Stay safe and stay healthy!


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing related to Twilight, only the OC's.

_Chapter Eight_

That night, Danielle lay in bed listening to the gentle sound of rain tapping against her window, her eyes staring up at the green tinted glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling. It was past midnight, but she couldn't sleep. Wasn't even really _tired_ , to be honest. Her mind was just too busy and too full of thoughts for her to be able to sleep.

She had not been able to stop thinking about Jasper, or what had happened between them that afternoon.

The whole thing had caught her completely by surprise. Sure, things had certainly felt different with Jasper the past few days, but she had not expected things to get so intense between them, and especially not so _quickly._ That moment with Jasper had been unlike anything Danielle had ever experienced before. Nobody had ever made her feel the things Jasper had made her feel when he'd been holding her, touching her, and just moments away from kissing her. She had been attracted to other guys before, and she had been _kissed_ before, but never, not even _once,_ had she felt anything even _close_ to what she had felt in that moment. She had never felt so completely and totally intoxicated by someone, and that strong, burning, almost _desperate_ need to kiss Jasper was something she had never felt for anyone else.

It had blown her away…and if that was how she had felt without actually getting a kiss, she couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen when Jasper actually _did_ kiss her.

That was, of course, assuming Jasper ever _would_ kiss her. He'd had certainly had ample opportunity to do so when they'd been on her porch, but he hadn't done it. He had pulled away from her. Actually, he had practically _ran_ away from her. He had seemed really shaken up by the whole thing, had looked borderline _terrified_ by what had happened.

The fact that he _had_ pulled away, that he _had_ seemed so afraid, was exactly why she was still awake and why she had been fretting all night long. Danielle was _confused,_ both by his behavior and the things that he had said. Why had he been so scared? He had said that he needed more time, but what did he need time _for?_ And what about kissing her could possibly be so dangerous?

The longer she thought about everything, the less it made sense and the more she began to get this nagging feeling in her gut that something wasn't right. He liked her, she _knew_ that he did. But she also knew there were things about Jasper that he hadn't told her yet, things that she was beginning to suspect might be even more serious than she had originally thought.

But what could it possibly be? Try as she might, she simply could not think of _one thing_ that would explain why Jasper had acted the way that he had that afternoon, nor explain just the way he was in general. What had happened in his past to make him want to keep his distance from people for so long? What could make him so hesitant to get physically closer to her? What was he keeping from her?

As if all of these questions weren't enough to turn her brain in scrambled eggs, she also could no longer make up excuses for the effect he had on her _emotionally_ whenever they were together. If she was away from him, her emotions were perfectly normal and behaved just as they should. But the moment she was around _him_ , they seemed to have a mind of their own. It was as if her emotions were on one big switchboard, and the person in control of that switchboard was _Jasper_ , not her. But even just the thought of something like that being possible sounded absolutely insane. Jasper wasn't some long lost X-Man with special, mutant powers – he was just a _guy_. He _could not_ control her emotions. That was not a possibility.

But if it wasn't Jasper making her behave this way, what _was?_ Why, when she had always been a rational and level-headed person, did she suddenly feel like she was an emotional yo-yo?

Danielle sighed with frustration and rolled onto her side, shifting around for a moment as she tried to get comfortable.

She had been thinking about this all evening, yet she wasn't any closer to figuring out the answers to her questions. She was _tired_ of over-analyzing, tired of this endless merry-go-round of confusion. She was beginning to feel that there was only one way to get to the bottom of all this. She had told him she wouldn't pressure him into revealing anything he didn't want to, but Danielle wasn't sure she could go on like this. The confusion and the endless questions would drive her insane. If she and Jasper kept going down this road, if they were going to be _together_ , then she needed to know the truth about him.

But could she really push him for answers when he so obviously _didn't_ want to be pushed? Could she risk causing irreparable damage to their relationship by trying to rush into something that he wasn't ready for?

Danielle sighed again. She didn't know _what_ she was supposed to do. All she knew was that she didn't want to think anymore.

Closing her eyes, she willed herself to try to go to sleep, doing her very best to push Jasper out of her mind. She just wanted to sleep. She just wanted this day to be _over_ with.

It felt like it took ages, but eventually Danielle was able to fall asleep. It wasn't a good sleep, however. She still tossed and turned, and she had weird dreams all night long. When she woke up to the obnoxious and unpleasant alarm stationed on her night stand, she felt as if she hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Eventually she dragged herself out of bed and got ready for school, putting her hair up and skipping any make-up, feeling too damn _tired_ to care what she looked like.

"You don't look so great," Bella said when Danielle finally made her way outside. Her friend seemed a bit concerned as she watched her trudge up to the truck and toss her backpack into the bed. When Danielle turned to her, Bella raised her brows. "You okay?"

Danielle sighed, then forced on a smile. She didn't particularly want to talk about Jasper right now, nor what had happened between them the day before. "Yeah," she lied. "I just didn't get very much sleep last night. I think I might be coming down with something, too," she added when Bella still looked a little unsure, faking a little cough. "All this rain and cold is finally taking a toll on me, I guess."

Her attempt to throw Bella off the scent seemed to work, because her friend frowned immediately. "You better _not_ be getting sick," she said. "If you skip out on the beach trip tomorrow and leave me to deal with Mike all by myself, I'll _kill_ you."

Danielle held up her hands in surrender. "Don't worry. I've already given my immune system a stern talking to," she promised with a nod. "As long as I take it easy today, I should be alright to go to the beach tomorrow."

Bella let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

They drove to school in silence for a bit, but eventually Danielle looked over at Bella with questioning eyes. Bella was mindlessly tapping her thumbs on the steering wheel as she drove, her head bobbing slightly to the beat of the music that was playing through the speakers, eyes focused on the road. Despite everything, Danielle had _not_ forgotten the fact that some significant changes had taken place between Bella and Edward. And even though her brain felt like mush due to her confusion over Jasper and serious lack of sleep, she still wanted to know how things had gone.

"So," Danielle said to break the silence. "Are you gonna tell me about Edward, or do I have to beat it out of you?"

Bella looked a bit taken aback, then blushed light pink. "What do you mean?"

Danielle rolled her eyes. "I _saw_ you two sitting together at lunch yesterday – the whole _school_ did," she said pointedly. "And I know he drove you home, too."

"How did you know he drove me home?" Bella asked curiously.

The question made her think about her conversation with Jasper at her locker before they had left. She then immediately thought about the car ride that had followed, before her thoughts inevitably turned back to that moment on her porch. Her stomach clenched at the memory, but she forced herself to push those thoughts away.

"Jasper told me," she answered with a shrug.

"Oh," Bella said with a slow nod. "To answer your question, _nothing_ happened with Edward," she told her. "We just… _talked_. I might have invited him to go to the beach with us, but as I'm sure _you_ already know, he's going hiking with Jasper and Emmett," she said. Danielle nodded to confirm that she was indeed aware of those plans. "Other than that, we were just trying to get to know each other a little better, ya know?" Bella said with a shrug.

Danielle made a sound of understanding. "Talking is good," she said encouragingly, which made Bella nod. "So what exactly led to him taking you home?"

Bella seemed to grimace at a memory. "I got sick during Biology and nearly fainted. Mike was taking me to the nurse's office when Edward intervened. He stayed with me while I was there to make sure I was fine…or maybe to _annoy_ me, I haven't really decided yet," she added dryly, which made Danielle smirk with amusement. "When I mentioned that I wasn't looking forward to gym, he talked to the nurse and got me out of having to go. I would have driven _myself_ home, but he insisted on driving me himself."

Danielle thought she detected a hint of frustration in her tone. "Isn't him driving you home a _good_ thing?" she asked.

Bella thought about it for a second, then heaved. "I mean, I guess him making the effort to get to know me _is_ good," she conceded. "It's just…" She trailed off and heaved again, looking frustrated now.

"It's just what?" Danielle prompted.

Bella glanced at her. "Edward says really weird things to me sometimes. Things that don't really make sense," she admitted, which instantly caught Danielle's interest. "He keeps saying how we shouldn't be friends, but that he can't stay away from me anymore. Then he'll say something all cryptic, like how maybe he's not the good guy and how I should probably be afraid of him." Bella shook her head in bemusement. "It's almost like he's trying really hard to convince me that he's _dangerous_ , though I don't know why."

Hearing Bella say the word _'dangerous'_ made Danielle look at her sharply, her thoughts instantly turning back to that last encounter with Jasper.

_I can't,_ he'd said. _It's too **dangerous**._

That nagging feeling in her stomach was back again, telling her that _something_ was going on, something that she hadn't been able to figure out yet. It was one thing for Jasper to say that he was dangerous for her, but to know that _Edward_ was saying the same thing to _Bella_? Was it just a coincidence, or was there something more to this?

Danielle frowned deeply, her brows furrowing with concentration. Even if there _was_ something more to this, she still had no idea what that something _was_. Why did Jasper believe that getting too close to her was dangerous? And if Edward also believed that he was dangerous for Bella, then did that mean that this secret Jasper was keeping from her _wasn't_ just about him – was it a secret that extended to the entire Cullen family as well? What did it all _mean?_

"Dani?" Bella asked.

Danielle blinked as she was pulled from her thoughts, then looked over at Bella. Her friend was eyeing her unsurely. "Yeah?"

"You okay? I feel like I lost you for a second there," Bella said.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I was just…thinking about everything you told me," she excused.

"Care to share your thoughts?" Bella asked hopefully. "Because when it comes to befriending Cullen's, you seem to have a lot more success than I do," she added. "Any tips would be appreciated."

"I don't really know how much help I'd be. I don't know anything about Edward," Danielle said with a shrug. Bella sighed with what seemed like disappointment. Upon seeing her friend's reaction, Danielle tried to come up with a believable reason that would explain the way Edward was behaving, before finally blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "If you ask me, it sounds like Edward's playing hard to get," she said, even though deep down, that nagging feeling told her that wasn't the case.

Bella pursed her lips as she thought that one over. "You think?" she asked, her tone full of doubt.

"Maybe," Danielle said with another shrug. "I dunno, Bella. He's a teenage guy. Teenage guys are…complicated."

"Even Jasper?" Bella asked pointedly.

Hearing his name sent a zing of awareness down her spine. "Even Jasper," she confirmed quietly as the previous afternoon flashed through her mind yet again.

Bella frowned, as if she had finally picked up on the fact that maybe something had happened between Danielle and Jasper. She looked like she might ask if something was wrong, but Danielle simply turned her eyes to the window, silently signaling that she didn't want to further proceed with the conversation. Bella sighed, but let the subject drop. They drove the rest of the way to Forks High in silence.

* * *

The rest of the day was easily one of the longest and most torturous days she'd had at school.

Between that moment with Jasper the day before and her conversation with Bella on the way to school, she was more confused than ever and feeling all out of sorts. But even if she didn't understand him or anything that had happened between them the last time they'd seen one another, that didn't stop her from missing Jasper. Danielle spent the majority of her first two classes completely ignoring her teachers, choosing instead to lean her chin on her hand and stare at his empty seat, wondering where he was and what he was doing. Was he thinking about her, too? And was he thinking about what had happened between them as much as she was?

Her history class was boring without Emmett around to entertain her, and Spanish wasn't much better, despite the fact that Bella was there. Bella seemed just as distracted as Danielle was, and, like Danielle, didn't seem very pleased with the fact that the Cullen _she_ liked wasn't at school, either.

The only interesting thing that happened all day was at the beginning of lunch. After she and Bella walked into the cafeteria and bought their lunches, they habitually started making their way over to the table that the lunch group was sitting at. As they were en route, Danielle looked toward the Cullen table, where only Alice and Rosalie were sitting, and was immediately greeted with a smile and a wave from Alice. After Danielle waved back, Alice started to get up, as if she had every intention of coming to speak to Danielle. Only, she was kept from actually doing so when Rosalie grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back into her seat. The two exchanged some words, until Alice finally gave up and stayed where she was, crossing her arms over her chest unhappily.

Danielle watched the entire exchange with uncertainty, before eventually following Bella to the table that their friends sat at. She supposed it wasn't too surprising that Alice had wanted to come and talk to her – she had, after all, said that she had hoped they would get to talk again soon. She also supposed it wasn't surprising that Rosalie had stopped her, seeing as Rosalie seemed to have a grudge against her that she was in no hurry to let go of anytime soon. Danielle was actually a little _disappointed_ that she didn't get a chance to talk to Alice, but she didn't have the guts to go over to talk to her while Rosalie was there, so she just shrugged the situation off and decided to go about her own business.

When the final bell rang, Danielle had never felt so relieved to see a school day come to an end. As if driven by the same sense of urgency to get away from Forks High as quickly as possible, she and Bella rushed back to the locker rooms and, in what seemed like record timing, they collected their backpacks and school books from their lockers before and went out to the parking lot. They stop to chat with Mike and Eric when the boys stopped them to make sure they remembered the meeting time for their upcoming beach trip, then hurried on to Bella's truck before anyone else could stop them.

When Saturday morning arrived, Danielle woke up actually feeling pretty _excited_ for the day. She was looking forward to getting out of the house and getting some fresh air, her excitement only growing when she glanced outside and was actually able to see the sun attempting to peek through the clouds overhead. She dressed quickly and packed her things for the day, then headed across the street to meet with Bella. Bella didn't look nearly as excited about their upcoming trip to the beach, but that didn't dampen Danielle's spirits in the slightest.

She and Bella pulled into the parking lot of Mr. Webber's store just before ten o'clock. They were the last to arrive, and there were more people invited to their beach outing than Danielle had expected. Mike, Angela, Eric, Tyler, and Jessica were all standing around a big suburban, but they were joined by five other people. None of them were people she had met or talked to, but she recognized them from school and knew they were all a grade below her. She could only assume they were friends of Mike and the gang.

The group turned at the sound of Bella's loud truck, and the ones she actually knew began waving in greeting. Danielle and Bella waved back as Bella parked in the space next to Jessica's car. They stepped out of the truck, and as soon as their feet reached the pavement, Mike broke away from the group and came hurrying over. He had a big grin of excitement on his face, which was most definitely _not_ being directed at Danielle. Danielle smirked and discreetly nudged Bella with her elbow. Bella just gave her a look in return.

"Hey guys!" he said excitedly as he reached them. "I'm glad you came!" he added, his eyes lingering on Bella.

"We said we were coming, so here we are," Bella said with what sounded like forced enthusiasm.

"Well, you know, sometimes things come up and plans change..." Mike said with a shrug.

It was obvious he'd been worried Bella wouldn't show up and was _very_ relieved that she had. Danielle glanced over Mike's shoulder and was not surprised to see that Jessica was watching their interaction, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes slightly narrowed as they bounced back and forth between Mike and Bella. Danielle looked back to Mike when he started talking again, his grin widening even more.

"Anyway," he said, clapping his hands together. "Now that you two are here, we're all ready to go. Tyler, Ben, Conner, Lauren, Lee, and Samantha are going in Tyler's van," he said, motioning toward the people Danielle didn't know. "The rest of us are going in my dad's suburban." Mike paused and turned to Bella. "Will you ride with us?" he asked hopefully. "You can sit shotgun if you want," he added, as if the prospect of sitting up front would be appealing enough to convince her.

Bella looked at Danielle, who was trying hard to contain a smirk of amusement. "Yeah, sure," Bella agreed. "But only if Dani gets to ride with us, too," she added, jerking her head toward Danielle.

Mike looked at Danielle, as if finally remembering that she was still there. "Yeah, of course!" Mike said at once. "There's plenty of room!"

"Great," Bella said, smiling and looking a bit more relaxed now.

While Mike headed off to tell everyone to start packing up to leave, Danielle and Bella went to the bed of her truck to grab the bags they had packed for the beach. Bella sighed heavily, which made Danielle quirk a brow at her. "He never gives up, does he?" Danielle said to her friend quietly.

"I thought I was making it obvious that I'm not interested," Bella shot back.

"Not obvious enough, apparently," Danielle countered. "If you want him to back off, I think you're gonna have to spell it out for him."

"I know," Bella heaved. "I just…I don't wanna hurt his feelings."

Danielle slung her beach bag onto her shoulder and turned to Bella. "He's a big boy. He'll get over it."

Bella gnawed on her bottom lip and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she finally agreed.

"Come on, guys!" Mike called to them from the suburban. "Let's go!"

They stopped talking about Mike and went to join everyone else at the suburban, where Danielle was quickly introduced to the rest of the people joining them on their outing. Most of them seemed friendly, except for the one named Lauren, who gave her a smile that was obviously fake and looked her up and down judgmentally whenever it was her turn to be introduced. Lauren gave off bad, unfriendly vibes that were impossible to ignore, which had Danielle quickly deciding that it would probably be best to keep her distance from her.

Soon enough, they had all piled into their respective vehicles and were on their way. It was turning out to be a nice day. Still cold, of course, but the sun had finally broken through the cloud cover, which was a welcome change from the gloomy, overcast sky she had grown accustomed to seeing every day. They rolled down the windows of the suburban as they made their way to La Push, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the crisp wind that whipped around them as they chatted with one another and listened to music.

For Danielle, it was a welcome distraction to be with her friends and to be doing something out of the normal routine. Between the music, the conversation, and the beautiful, green scenery they were driving past, she finally managed to push Jasper to the back of her mind and was actually able to _enjoy_ herself. Her confusion about Jasper was gone and she was in higher spirits than she had been in days. It was going to be a good day, she was sure of it.

When they arrived at First Beach, Danielle got out of the suburban and walked up to the edge of the parking lot, which overlooked the beach down below. She stood there for a long few moments, just admiring the view. The water was dark grey and there seemed to be more rocks than actual sand on the beach, but that didn't make it any less beautiful. Between the tree-covered islands that jutted up from the water out in the distance, the green forest flanking the beach on either side, and the multicolored pieces of driftwood that were strewn around the tide line, the view was incredible.

The group worked together to unpack everything they had brought with them. The guys handled their surfboards, wet suits, a small bar-b-que pit and cooking supplies, while Danielle and the rest of the girls grabbed all the bags of towels and personal belongings. Lauren put up a big fuss when the guys asked if they could handle bringing down the two coolers that had been brought for the trip, claiming that it was too heavy and that the guys should do it themselves. Danielle just rolled her eyes when Lauren wasn't looking, then she and Angela went to grab one of the coolers - which was _not_ that heavy - and set off for the beach. Jessica and Samantha carried the other.

Once they were down on the beach, Danielle wandered away from the group while they set up a hang out spot and got a small fire started. She walked along the rocks, which had seemed grey from a distance but were actually all sorts of colors up close, until she finally hit the soft sand. It was quite a bit colder down by the water and the wind carried the strong smell of salt water as it blew in from the shore, but she could also smell the earthy, piney scent of the surrounding forest.

It immediately made her think of Jasper, which had her sighing to herself.

She still missed him, there was no use in denying it. And even if they had left each other on strange terms, it didn't change the fact that she wished he was with her now. How nice would it have been to walk together along the beach? To sit around the fire and huddle close together for warmth? To walk through the emerald forest, perhaps hold hands…or maybe even sneak a kiss when nobody was around to see them?

Danielle rolled her eyes at herself and shook her head. It seemed silly to think those thoughts when it seemed unlikely anything like that would be happening any time soon. _She_ might be ready to take their relationship to the next level, but clearly Jasper _wasn't_. She doubted that would've changed over just a few days, either.

She was drawn from her thoughts by the sound of laughter behind her. She turned to see that Mike, Eric, Tyler, and Jessica, as well as the boy named Ben, had all changed into wetsuits and were carrying their surf boards to the water. Danielle was a little surprised by the fact that Jessica was going surfing, since she didn't really seem like the surfing type, but when she saw the way the girl giggled at Mike and shoved him playfully, she had a feeling that Jessica's willingness to surf had a lot to do with Mike.

"Hey, Dani!" Tyler said when he saw her standing there. "There's an extra board up there if you're feeling brave!"

Danielle smiled, then shook her head. "No thanks," she said. "Water's way too cold for me. You guys have fun, though."

"Oh, we will," Mike said reassuringly. "Last one to the water's a rotten egg!"

With that, Mike took off running toward the grey waves, followed quickly by the rest of the group. They laughed as they raced to the water, then cried out with a combination of shock and giddiness when they hit the undoubtedly freezing water. Danielle smiled, watching as they all jumped on their boards and began paddling out, before turning to head back to the rest of the group.

It wasn't long before Angela and the boys named Lee and Conner decided that they wanted to go take a hike through the forest so they could go see something called the ' _tide pools_ '. Danielle didn't know what that was exactly, but she agreed to join them, and because she had decided to go, Bella opted to come along as well. She was relieved when Lauren decided to stay back with Samantha.

Danielle, Bella, Angela, Conner and Lee left the bonfire behind and made their way into the forest. The little amount of sunlight that they had been exposed to on the beach immediately disappeared once they were underneath the thick canopy of the green forest, but Danielle didn't mind. It was her first real venture into the forest since coming to Forks, and she found herself oddly entranced by her surroundings. She only half listened to the conversation the others were having, instead focusing more on their gorgeous surroundings. She ran her fingertips along damp, moss covered tree trunks and wet, berry decorated bushes as she walked past them, uncaring of the mud beginning to cake up on her boots. She stopped when a low hanging branch came into view and reached up to touch the soft leaves, smiling to herself.

"Is there a reason you're petting trees?" Bella asked behind her.

Danielle looked back, noticing the fact that Bella was walking very carefully and very slowly as she made her way closer to where she stood. "I like the forest," Danielle said with a shrug. "Everything is just so… _pretty_."

"Yeah, and _dangerous_ ," Bella said, before letting out a small sound of surprise when she almost tripped over a tree root that was jutting up from the ground. "I feel like I'm going to face plant any second now," she said, eyeing the ground warily.

"Knowing your track record, I'm genuinely shocked you haven't face planted _already_ ," Danielle teased.

"You should really consider a career as a stand-up comedian," Bella shot back dryly.

Danielle laughed, then offered her friend an arm once she was close enough. "Hang on to me, buddy," she said. "I'll make sure you don't break anything."

Bella smiled gratefully and linked her arm with Danielle's. "Thanks."

They finally broke through the trees and reached the shore again, where the tide pools were located. Danielle discovered that the tide pools were pockets of little ponds that were close to the shore - they would be hidden underwater during high tide, but never fully drained when it was low tide. Danielle left Bella behind as her friend found a large rock to safely perch on, her jaw dropped with awe as she stepped across the rocks, eyes fixed on the natural aquariums below. There were starfish, hermit crabs, eels, and all sorts of marine life in the ponds, just waiting for the tide to rise again so that they could return to the ocean not so far away. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

Danielle followed Angela, Conner, and Lee as they jumped from rock to rock, being careful not to slip on the slick surfaces. They stayed there for a long time, jumping around on the rocks and pointing out interesting looking fish or anemones to each other. The boys horsed around quite a bit and threatened to push one another into the water, which made Danielle and Angela roll their eyes and keep their distance, just to they wouldn't become unsuspecting targets.

When their hunger eventually got the better of them they decided to head back to the beach. Bella once again linked her arm with Danielle's, and together they trailed behind the other three as they started back toward the bonfire. Bella slipped a few times, but with Danielle's help, she managed to stay on her feet. Bella smiled gratefully each time, though she seemed a bit embarrassed by her own clumsiness.

Once they were back on the beach, they found that the group who had gone surfing had decided to take a break. They were sitting around the bonfire with towels around their shoulders to shield them from the wind as they dried off. But what surprised Danielle was the fact that the group had grown in size since they had left – there were now three new people sitting with their friends, all of them guys, all of them copper-skinned and sporting long, silky dark hair. If she had to guess, they were probably from the reservation.

"Hey, Bella!" one of the younger looking boys said with enthusiasm as they approached. He broke away from his two friends and came running toward them.

"Hey, Jacob," Bella greeted with a friendly smile. "What're you doing here?"

The boy named Jacob scoffed with amusement. "You're on _my_ rez, remember?" he pointed out.

Bella laughed. "Of course." She looked over at Danielle, who was looking back and forth between the two as she tried to figure out how they knew one another. "Dani, this is Jacob Black. He's an old family friend," she introduced. "He's the one my dad bought my truck off of."

Danielle nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see." She smiled at Jacob and stepped forward to shake his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Jacob," she said politely. "I'm Danielle, but everyone calls me Dani."

Jacob shook her hand, giving her a big, friendly grin in return. He was obviously younger than both of them, but cute in a boyish kind of way. "It's nice to meet you, Dani."

"Dani's new to town," Bella said. "She moved here from Texas back in January."

"Wow," Jacob said, raising his brows a bit. "Big change, huh?"

"Definitely," Danielle said with a nod. "I like it here, though," she added with a smile.

"Cold weather? Constant rain? Almost zero sunshine? What's not to like?" Jacob asked jokingly.

Danielle and Bella laughed.

The three of them stood there talking for a few minutes, until Danielle glanced over and noticed that Conner and Tyler were struggling to get the little bar-b-que pit started. Danielle, who was beginning to get quite hungry herself and didn't want to wait for them to get it together, excused herself from the conversation with Jacob and Bella and went over to the pit, raising her brows questioningly.

"Need some help?" she asked.

Conner and Tyler glanced at her, looked at each other, then turned skeptical looks back to her. "You know how to work a bar-b-que pit?"

Danielle scoffed and quirked a brow. "I'm from Texas. We're practically _born_ knowing how to work a bar-b-que pit," she said pointedly. She then motioned for them to pass the matches and the bag of charcoal over. "Give it to me. I'll have this thing going in no time."

Conner and Tyler finally did so, then stood back and crossed their arms as they watched her get to work. Within minutes, the coal at the bottom of the bar-b-que pit had a decent fire going. Danielle put the lid back on the pit, set the bag of charcoal to the side, then turned a bright smile on the two boys, who looked both impressed _and_ surprised.

"Give it a little bit of time to burn. When the coals are white, it's ready to go," she instructed.

"Er, thanks," Conner said, before smiling at her and giving her a look that she was not unfamiliar with. There was a spark of interest in his eyes now, a look that was more than just friendly. "You're good at that. I'm impressed," he complimented.

Danielle just shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "What can I say? It's a gift," she joked.

She went to sit next to Angela after that and began munching on some chips as they waited for the guys to cook up hot dogs and hamburgers. Jacob and his friends from the reservation had been invited to stay for lunch and had joined the group around the bonfire. Bella and Jacob claimed a log of drift wood across the way, while his friends were sitting on the piece next to the one Danielle and Angela sat on. Danielle nodded at the oldest looking boy of the three Quileute's when their eyes met, but they didn't talk much.

Eventually the hot dogs and hamburgers were ready and everyone got up to make a plate of food. Once everyone had a plate of lunch, they sat down around the bonfire again. Danielle sat next to Angela again, then was rather surprised when Conner decided to claim the open space on her left. He flashed her a big grin, then dug into his lunch. Danielle just looked at him for a moment, then scooted a fraction closer to Angela and began eating.

They talked all through lunch, asking Jacob and his friends questions about life on the reservation, then answering whatever questions they had in turn. The boys seemed friendly, and they were easy enough to talk to. After lunch, everyone started to break away to do their own thing again. Mike and Jessica went back into the water to get another surf session in, while those who had not gone on the hiking trip earlier quickly grouped together and headed into the forest so that they could see the tide pools for themselves. Eventually, the only people left around the bonfire were Danielle, Angela, Bella, Jacob, his two friends from the reservation, Lauren, and Conner.

"So, Danielle," Conner started. "Or should I call you Dani?" he quickly followed up.

"Dani's fine," she said with a polite smile.

"Alright," Conner said, smiling. "So, Dani, how are you liking Forks so far?"

It was a question she'd gotten a hundred times before, and she couldn't help feeling a small surge of annoyance at being asked again. But she told herself to be patient – she had only just met Conner and he was just being polite. "It's nice," she said with a nod. "A big change, but a _good_ change."

"That's good," Conner said with a nod. "It must be hard, you know, coming to a new school so late into your senior year."

"Yeah, it was," Danielle admitted. "But I've made some really good friends here, so that makes it easier," she said with a smile, her thoughts immediately turning to Jasper.

"Oh, she's made some _friends_ alright," a voice muttered from across the bonfire.

Danielle frowned and glanced at the person who had spoken - Lauren. The girl had a haughty expression on her face, which immediately rubbed Danielle the wrong way. Lauren looked away when she noticed that Danielle was watching her, though, and didn't say another word.

"Are you going to the Spring Fling next week?" Conner asked, either oblivious to Lauren's comment or just choosing to ignore it.

Danielle stared at Lauren for a moment longer, then looked back at Conner. "I am, yes," she confirmed.

Conner gave her a charming smile. "Do you have a date or are you just going with friends?"

"I have a date," she confirmed, which made Conner's smile falter.

"Oh," he said, sounding the tiniest bit disappointed. "Who are you going with?"

Danielle started to answer, but someone else beat her to the punch. "Isn't it obvious?" It was Lauren again, and as everyone looked at her, she scoffed in a very unladylike way. "She's probably going with Jasper Hale. She's always hanging out with him. _Obviously_ there's something going on there," she said, as if this should have been common knowledge by now.

"Jasper Hale?" the oldest boy from the reservation interjected, his brows furrowing together. "Isn't he Dr. Carlisle Cullen's son?"

The fact that he seemed to know who the Cullen's were momentarily surprised everyone. "Yeah," Lauren confirmed. "You know them or something?"

"I know who they are," he said gruffly. His previous friendliness had disappeared, his expression now full of dislike. "The Cullen's don't come here," he then stated firmly.

It was an odd thing to say, and it made everyone peer at him with curiosity for a moment. Danielle and Bella shared a long, significant look, one that had Danielle believing that they were thinking the same thing – the way he had said that suggested that the Cullen's didn't come to La Push because they weren't _allowed_ to. But why?

Eventually Conner recovered and shook his head, then turned back to Danielle with a look of slight disappointment. "So, you're going to the dance with Jasper then?" he asked, redirecting the conversation back to what they'd been talking about before the Quileute boy had interrupted.

"Yes, I am," she confirmed, before quirking an eyebrow at Lauren. "Is that a _problem_?" she asked.

Lauren flicked her hair away from her face, then shrugged a shoulder. "I just think it's interesting how you've managed to get so _close_ to the Cullen's since you came here," she said. "Until you and Bella came along, they never bothered to acknowledge the rest of us," she added, glancing around pointedly at anyone who _wasn't_ Danielle or Bella. "Suddenly you two are here, and they can't seem to stay away."

"Lauren," Angela said warningly, giving her a look that plainly said to stop talking. Lauren just ignored her.

Danielle flushed, and when she chanced a look at Bella, she saw that her friend was blushing too. "So?" she asked, trying not to sound defensive.

"So…it makes me wonder. What makes _you two_ so special?" Lauren asked, trying – and failing – to hide the jealousy in her tone. "Why do they hang out with _you,_ but ignore the rest of us?"

Danielle felt her annoyance and her dislike for Lauren increasing by the second. She didn't know why this girl was being so nasty, especially so considering they had only just met, but Danielle was going to make sure Lauren knew that she didn't appreciate the judgement or the attitude. "Maybe they just think you're too _annoying_ to be around," she said, which made Lauren's eyes go wide. "Or maybe they just stay away from rude people who think it's okay to stick their nose in business that doesn't concern them."

Lauren turned an interesting shade of purple, looking equal parts enraged and embarrassed. Finally, she stood up and stomped away, her hair whipping in the wind as she went. The rest of the group watched her go, before looking at Danielle. Danielle just sat straighter, feeling thoroughly unapologetic for the things she'd said. Lauren had deserved it, as far as she was concerned. That should teach her to mind her own business.

"I'll, uh…go talk to her," Conner said, before standing up and quickly walking away.

There was an awkward silence after that. For a long few minutes nobody seemed to know what to say or do, but eventually Jacob turned to Bella and asked if she wanted to go for a walk, as if he were looking for an escape from the uncomfortable atmosphere. Bella gave Danielle another long look, but agreed to go and left the bonfire with Jacob.

Danielle found herself now in the company of Angela and the two Quileute boys, both of whom were looking at her with curiosity. The two shared a look, before the older of the two boys stood up and came over to her, claiming the empty space that Conner had just been occupying. Danielle looked at him unsurely, noting his serious expression and the probing look in his eyes.

"You and the other girl…you know the Cullen's?" he asked bluntly.

Danielle frowned a bit, not entirely sure she knew why he wanted to know. She looked at Angela, who shrugged, then looked back at the boy. "We know a few of them, yes," she confirmed. "Why do you ask?" she asked in return, her tone slightly suspicious.

He paused for a moment to peer intently into her eyes, as if searching for some sort of answer. "You're _close_ with the one named Jasper?" he asked next, ignoring her question. "You're… _with him?_ " he pried.

Danielle tensed, her frown deepening even more. "I don't really see how that's any of _your_ business," she said pointedly.

The boy frowned, as if her refusal to answer was giving him all the information he needed and he wasn't very pleased with it. "You should be careful around him. And _all_ the Cullen's for that matter," he warned. "In fact, if you knew what was _good_ for you, you'd do yourself a favor and stop hanging around them altogether."

"I'm sorry – _what_?" Danielle retorted, wondering what this guy's problem was and what made him think he had the right to tell her who she should, or should not, be spending her time with.

"The Cullen's are dangerous," he said firmly. "And you shouldn't be around them. Feel free to pass that message along to your friend, too."

There was that word again.

_Dangerous._

Danielle stared at him in shock, stunned by what he had just said, then started to ask him just what exactly made him think the Cullen's were so dangerous. Before she could, however, he stood up and turned to the other boy, motioning that it was time to leave. He gave Danielle one last look, then, with his friend in tow, they left. Danielle watched him go, her mouth agape.

"Okay, that was really weird," Angela commented. "What was _his_ problem?" she asked with a frown.

The question pulled Danielle from her momentary stupor. She shook her head, then looked at Angela with a clueless shrug. "Hell if I know," she admitted.

Angela sighed, then shook her head. "Well, at least he's gone now."

In an attempt to ward off the awkwardness that had just fallen over them, Angela asked if she wanted to go walk by the beach. Danielle agreed, and they soon set off toward the water to get in a post-lunch stroll. But even as Angela told her about an interesting book she'd just started reading, Danielle hardly paid attention. All she could hear were the words of the Quileute boy in her head, and they were nothing but fuel to the fire of confusion that had already been burning away since the last time she'd seen Jasper.

_The Cullen's are dangerous. And you shouldn't be around them._

* * *

A little while later, after nearly everyone had returned from their various adventures, rain clouds finally began to form in the sky overhead and it began to sprinkle, which meant that their beach trip came to an abrupt and unceremonious end.

Danielle worked with the others to quickly move their things back up to the parking lot and load them into the vehicles, carefully ignoring Lauren and making sure to stay as far away from her as possible. They had nearly finished packing when Danielle realized that neither Bella, nor Mike or Jessica, was present. She walked to the edge of the parking lot and held a hand above her eyes to shield them from the rain drops falling down from the sky, searching the beach down below for any sign of her friends.

"Any sign of them?" Angela asked as she appeared by Danielle's side.

Danielle shook her head. "No, not yet," she said with a sigh. She was anxious to leave before the rain _really_ started to come down, but she was even _more_ anxious to talk to Bella about what the Quileute boy had said to her.

"Well, they'd better hurry up," Angela said. "I don't get rained on for _anyone_."

Danielle smiled, then left her post and headed back to the suburban to wait with the others. Thankfully, they only had to wait a few more minutes before Mike, Jessica, and Bella came hurrying into the parking lot. Jacob was not with them, but that didn't surprise her – she assumed he had gone his own way.

Danielle pushed away from the suburban to greet them, but froze when she caught sight of the look on Bella's face. She looked like she had something she very much wanted to tell her, and looked like she might very well burst if she wasn't able to say it soon.

"I need to talk to you," Bella muttered, grabbing Danielle by the sleeve and leading her away from the rest of the group.

"About what?" Danielle asked quietly.

"Something _crazy,"_ Bella said, giving her a wide-eyed look.

Danielle frowned, glanced around, then looked back to her friend. "There's something I need to tell you, too," she said. "Something _weird,_ " she added.

Before either had a chance to elaborate, Mike's voice rose above everyone else's. "Alright! Let's get outta here before the rain tries to drown us!"

Danielle and Bella shared a look, both of them desperate to talk to the other, but then finally sighed with resignation and began heading to the suburban. "Later," Bella said. "We'll talk once we're away from everyone else."

Danielle nodded in agreement.

The ride back to Forks seemed to take ages. It was torture, sitting next to Bella the whole way but not being able to talk to her about whatever it was that had happened while she'd been off with Jacob. It didn't help that Bella continuously fidgeted and kept shooting her glances the whole ride, as if the words she was trying to keep contained would burst out of her at any given moment. Bella was moving around so much that even Eric, who was sitting behind them, jokingly asked if she was doing the pee-pee dance. Bella finally stopped fidgeting after that, though she did _not_ stop shooting meaningful looks at Danielle the rest of the way home.

Danielle could have sung with relief when Mr. Newton's Olympic Outfitters store finally came into view. Once the two vehicles containing the beach group had parked and everyone had gotten out, they stood around for a few minutes, relishing in their fun-filled day and already discussing possibilities of when they could go out to La Push again. Finally, when Danielle could stand it no longer, she told everyone that she and Bella needed to go and grabbed Bella by the sleeve, practically _dragging_ her away from the rest of the group. After calling out a few goodbyes, they turned and began walking quickly to the truck.

The moment they were in the truck and safely away from any possible eavesdroppers, Danielle turned a desperate look on Bella.

"Okay, I've been _dying_ ," she said urgently. "What happened? What do you need to tell me?"

"It's about the Cullen's," Bella said quickly.

Danielle waved a hand, urging her to continue. _"And?"_

Bella hesitated for a moment and gnawed on her bottom lip, looking unsure of whatever it was that she was about to say. "Alright, what's about to come out of my mouth is going to sound crazy and stupid and absolutely _ridiculous,_ " she prefaced. "But…while I was walking with Jacob, we started talking about the Quileute's and all their legends and stuff. He told me about the tribe and how they were created. He mentioned how they were descendent from wolves, and how during the great flood his people made something similar to Noah's Ark, and – " she rambled.

"What do wolves and Noah's Ark have to do with the Cullen's?" Danielle interrupted impatiently, eager for Bella to get to the point.

" _Nothing_ ," Bella replied just as impatiently. "It's what he told me _next_ that has to do with them." Bella sucked in a deep breath, then gave her a very serious look. "He told me that a long time ago, his great-grandfather encountered _cold ones,_ " she said.

Danielle frowned. "Cold ones?" she repeated.

"Yeah. You know… _blood drinkers_ ," Bella said with emphasis.

Danielle blinked at her, before her brows furrowed together. "You mean _vampires_?" she asked, her tone slightly incredulous.

Bella looked relieved that Danielle had figured out what she was hinting at, as if she hadn't wanted to say the word _vampire_ out loud. "Exactly. Supposedly this coven of – " She paused and waved her hand, as if prompting Danielle to say the word again.

"Vampires?" Danielle offered, her tone full of disbelief.

Bella nodded, then continued on with the story. "They settled here in Forks when Jacob's great-grandfather was the chief of the tribe. Since the Quileute's are descendants of wolves, they can apparently turn into werewolves. And the one true enemy of the werewolf are the cold ones. So they were freaked out when they discovered that there was a coven of them near their people. When the Quileute's met the coven, however, they realized that they were different from _other_ cold ones they had encountered. They didn't harm humans. They fed off of animals instead and tried to lead normal, human lives. Because of this, a treaty was set in place. The coven could stay in Forks as long as they stayed off of Quileute lands."

Danielle blinked at Bella a few times as she concluded her story. She was struggling to fully wrap her head around everything that she had just been told. "So what are you saying? The coven in Jacob's stories are the ancestors of the Cullen's or something?" Danielle asked in confusion.

"No," Bella said, her expression serious as she shook her head. "The Cullen's _are_ that coven."

A deafening silence settled over them after that, broken up only by the rapid _PING PING PING_ of raindrops bouncing off the metal of the truck. While Bella watched her anxiously, waiting to hear what her response to all of this would be, a battle began to wage within Danielle's head.

The rational side to her immediately said that this was all just a story and in _no way_ true. This wasn't a movie. This wasn't a fantasy novel. This was _real life_. And in real life, vampires didn't exist. Sure, there were myths and legends all over the place, and she knew there were people out there who _did_ believe that vampires existed – or, at least, _had_ existed at one point or another. But Danielle was _not_ one of those people.

But then she thought about what the Quileute boy had said. _The Cullen's are dangerous_. _You shouldn't be around them._ And then she began to think of Jasper, and the things _he_ had said to her. How there were things about him she didn't know, how he'd been afraid to go to the dance with her because he felt that getting too close would make things ' _difficult_ ' for him. How he hadn't kissed her because he'd said it was too dangerous, and that he needed more time. And then, of course, there was Edward, telling Bella she should stay away from him, how they shouldn't be friends because he was dangerous for her.

Did they keep insisting that they were dangerous because they were _vampires?_ Because they feared that if they got too close, they wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of human blood?

Even as the questions flew through her mind, every logical part of her immediately and vehemently rejected the notion. No matter how confusing things were when it came to Jasper and the Cullen's, this _couldn't_ be the answer. They _couldn't_ be vampires. It simply wasn't possible.

"Dani?" Bella finally asked timidly. "What are you thinking?"

Danielle finally snapped out of it and shook her head. "I'm thinking this is all freaking _insane_ ," she said honestly. "Vampires aren't _real,_ Bella."

"I know how insane it sounds!" Bella said with a heave. "But…I mean…think about it. In some small, weird way…doesn't it kind of make sense?"

Danielle gave her a look. "How do you figure?" she asked with a heavy dose of skepticism.

"Jacob calls them the _cold ones_ ," she said pointedly. "I've felt Edward before. He was _cold._ Is Jasper the same way?"

Danielle thought about Jasper, and how cold he always was whenever she touched him. Emmett was cold to the touch as well, and, admittedly, _Edward_ had been too the one time she'd shaken his hand. She'd always chalked it up to them being cold natured, though, or perhaps to the cold weather outside. "Well, _yes_ , but – "

"And the day I met Edward, his eyes were black," Bella interrupted before Danielle could get another word out. "You said Jasper's were black, too, remember?"

"I _thought_ they were at the time, but I think it was just a trick of the lighting," Danielle corrected in a rush.

"Or maybe it _wasn't_ ," Bella countered. She took a deep breath, then gave Danielle a serious look. "The day Tyler's van almost crushed me, the day Edward _saved_ me – " she began to say.

"Oh, not _this_ again," Danielle said with dismay, knowing _exactly_ what Bella was about to say.

" _Just listen_!" Bella insisted. Danielle pressed her lips together and didn't say another word. When Bella was satisfied that Danielle wasn't going to interrupt, she continued. "I know you don't believe me, but I've said it a hundred times. _I know what I saw_ ," she said firmly. "Edward ran from one side of the parking lot to the other in the blink of an eye, jumped in front of me, and _pushed_ the van away with his _bare hands_. Ever since then I've tried to figure out _how_ he would have been able to do that, but other than radioactive spiders, I've got _nothing_. Now I hear this and…it's got me thinking," she said. "If he was a… _vampire_ …would he have super human speed and strength? Would he be able to stop a van from crushing me to death?" She paused, then shrugged. "Maybe he could."

Danielle frowned. "Bella, listen to what you're saying," she said. "You're talking about _vampires_ and _werewolves_ , for Christ's sake! This isn't a _movie_. This is _real life_."

"Look, it's confusing to me, too, alright?" Bella admitted. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. "I just…I don't know what's going on in my head anymore," she said, sounding almost weary now. "All I know is that I've felt like there's _something_ about Edward that I just didn't get. And now I hear _this_ and…" She trailed off and shook her head, before giving Danielle a questioning look. "Haven't you ever felt that way with Jasper?" she asked, almost pleadingly, as if she was hoping she wasn't the only insane person currently in the truck. "Like there's something he's hiding from you? Something _big_?"

Danielle gulped as she considered the question. The truth was that she had spent the last two days thinking there was something that Jasper was keeping from her, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. But a _vampire_? Was that really the answer?

She didn't think so, and she didn't think it was wise to entertain the idea in any way, shape, or form.

"They're not vampires, Bella," Danielle said firmly, choosing _not_ to answer Bella's question. "Jacob might be one hell of a story teller, but that's all this is – a _story_. It's not true. It _can't_ be."

Bella looked at her for a long moment, then sighed heavily. She didn't say anything for a few seconds, but eventually nodded in acceptance. "You're probably right," she admitted, albeit reluctantly so. She sighed again and rubbed her face. "I feel stupid for even bringing it up," she admitted, looking embarrassed now.

"You're not stupid," Danielle insisted at once.

Bella started to say something in response, but a sudden knock on her window made them both jump and let out sounds of surprise. For one wild, irrational moment, Danielle half expected a vampire or a werewolf to be outside the truck. To her relief, it was nothing of the sort. It was just Mike who had just knocked on the window, and as he stood in the rain and peered at them through the glass, he looked concerned. Danielle realized then that everyone else had left except for them, which Mike had obviously noticed. Bella glanced at Danielle, then rolled down her window.

"Everything okay?" he asked uncertainly. "Is something wrong with your truck?"

Bella forced on a smile. "No, no. Everything's fine. We were just…talking," she said reassuringly.

"Okay," Mike said, though he sounded a bit unsure. "I'll see you later, then."

He took a step back away from the truck after that, but didn't leave just yet. When it became clear that he was going to wait there until they left, Bella rolled up her window and finally put the keys in the ignition, starting the truck with a loud, resounding roar. They waved to Mike one last time, then pulled out of the parking lot and began driving back toward their houses. As if they had come to some silent, mutual agreement, they did not speak for the rest of the ride.

Once they were parking in front of Bella's house, Bella cut the engine and turned to Danielle. "Didn't you have something to tell me?" she asked curiously. When Danielle, who had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she'd forgotten about everything else, gave her a confused look, she raised her brows. "Back at the beach, you said you had something to tell me. Something weird."

Danielle instantly remembered the Quileute boy and the strange warnings he'd given her. But just as quickly, she decided _not_ to tell Bella about that. It seemed like a bad idea, considering what they'd just discussed. It would only throw fuel on the fire, and this particular fire was one that needed to be stamped out, not reinforced.

"It's nothing," she said with a shake of her head. "Don't worry about it."

"You sure?" Bella asked skeptically.

Danielle nodded. "I'm sure."

"Okay."

They said their goodbyes after that, then exited the truck and quickly ran toward their respective houses so that they wouldn't get too drenched from the rain.

The moment Danielle was within the safety of her own home, she heaved heavily and leaned back against the front door, her eyes sliding closed. She then slid down until she was sitting on the floor, her head thumping back against the door.

That beach outing had _not_ ended the way she thought it would. Of everything that could have happened, of everything they could have discussed, Jasper and his family being _vampires_ was the last thing she had expected Bella to throw her way. And now that the idea was there – despite it being the most _ludicrous_ idea she'd ever heard – she couldn't seem to get it out of her head. She had told Bella it wasn't possible, she had insisted that vampires didn't exist. But even so, now that she was left to her own thoughts and her own devices, a small, teeny, tiny part of herself couldn't help but wonder…

What if she was _wrong_?

She thought back to every single moment she'd shared with Jasper, the good _and_ the bad. Had he ever done things that didn't make sense? Had he ever done anything that wasn't normal or… _human_? Perhaps… _yes_. She had been certain that his eyes had been black the day that they met, but had since convinced herself that she had just been seeing things – now she was beginning to have doubts about that. He was always cold to the touch, even if they were inside, and now, as she thought about all the times they'd sat together during lunch, he almost _never_ ate anything in front of her. _Because vampires don't eat human food_ , a voice said in her head. _Vampires don't **need** human food. _And when she had invited Jasper to La Push, he had declined. _Because going on to Quileute land would break the treaty,_ that same, annoying, know-it-all voice pointed out.

Now she started thinking about Emmett, who was solid as a marble statue. He was cold, too. And though his eyes had never been black, they _were_ amber colored. Just like Jasper. Just like Edward. Just like Alice. They all had the same eye color, yet they weren't related by blood – was it a coincidence, or was that the way _all_ vampires looked? And as many times as she had dismissed Bella's beliefs concerning what had happened the day of the crash, Danielle thought about Edward, and how _fast_ he had been. Nobody was that fast – not even an Olympic sprinter. The only way someone could be that fast was if they weren't human. Was if they were…something _else._

Danielle suddenly growled with frustration and rubbed her face. She felt stupid and annoyed with herself for even allowing her thoughts to go down this path. What the hell was wrong with her? Was she losing her mind? How, when she had just told Bella over and over again that her newest theory about the Cullen's wasn't real, was she actually sitting here and _seriously_ contemplating it as a possibility? Was she an idiot? Was she losing her _mind?_

Danielle got up from the floor and stomped into the living room to turn on the television. She cranked it up as loud as she could, hoping the almost deafening volume would be enough to drown out her own thoughts.

She didn't know what was going on with the Cullen's. Maybe Emmett and Edward were on steroids. Maybe they all liked weird colored contacts. Maybe they couldn't get close to people because they were in the witness protection program, or hell, maybe they were in a freaking _cult_. The fact of the matter was that she didn't have any clue why the Cullen's were the way that they were. But there was one thing she _did_ know.

Vampires were _not_ real.

Jasper Hale was _not_ a vampire. Nor was anyone else in his family. And that was _that._

End. Of. Story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the kudos, for the bookmarks, and just for taking the time to read the story! I hope you're all enjoying it!


End file.
